


Falias, Finias

by ashangel101010



Category: Chaotic (Cartoon)
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, And somehow does not get stabbed, Caretaker!Kazdan, Foreshadowing, Gen, H'earring continues their tour, Kazdan pays for lunch, Kazdan storms out, Lost Boys, Meeting Nivenna for the first time, New Friendships, Oh and Chaor murders a church full of rebels, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sadness, Tom and Kaz are not best friends, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-27
Updated: 2018-03-31
Packaged: 2018-06-10 08:34:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 31,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6947983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashangel101010/pseuds/ashangel101010
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set in an alternative universe where Kaz and Tom are not best friends. Kazdan is used to being alone; he not's happy but neither is he unhappy. Playing Chaotic does not ease his loneliness, but it, eventually, leads him to a world where he forgets. But, it always does come back like a knife to the chest.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Let Old Friends Go

Falias, Finias Prologue

*

Suggested Theme:

Main Theme- Floe from La Chiesa

*

            Kazdan coughs into his right hand; he stretches his hand to the little sliver of sunlight streaming in the malformed lid of the old dumpster. He smiles, shaking with relief that there’s no blood; he won’t have to call 911 and endure his mom’s anxiety about the severity of his injuries. He pushes himself up from the garbage, coffee rinds stain his left hand like crusty dirt. He props himself on a brown-metal wall that is close to the crack of the dumpster’s lid. Then, he assesses the damage done to his self.

His scalp feels raw from all the literal hair pulling; he sees some strands of his red-gold hair scattered in the vile-smelling refuse. His face feels fine, minus a scratch or two on his ears from being dumped into the dumpster, because the bully is smart enough not to leave such obvious marks for all to see. His neck feels fine like his face, again barring some scratches he got from the tiny shards of glass in the garbage.

He wipes his coffee-stained hand against his black, pencil pants. He rolls up his green sweater sleeves; on his arms he can see slimy, pink welts and angry, red patches shining against his skin like burns. He rolls the sleeves down and then rolls up his pants’ legs. He finds bruises in the shape of size 9 sneakers and bleeding scratches on his knees from the alleyway’s craggy floor. He rolls them back down again and nearly bangs the back of his head against the wall.

“Violence is childish.” Kazdan concludes as he remembers Stanley Kubrick’s _A Clockwork Orange_ film. The way the bullies, most of whom who got held back by two years, beat him reminds him of sandbox delinquents in kindergarten. The bullies didn’t break or sprain any of his limbs; they pretty much used attacks that a five-year-old would use on his annoying little brother like Indian burns. The beating was juvenile, but it still fucking hurts.

“I still got it.” Kazdan whispered softly but not hoarsely since none of the bullies tried to choke him out. He doesn’t like talking loudly, especially in this miserable environment he finds himself in. He uses his right hand to delve into the right, front pocket of his jeans and pulls out a Chaotic booster pack from his pocket. Chaotic has been growing in popularity for about a year now, but Kazdan didn’t buy a pack until today.

Today, he finished the last round of tests he needed to take in order to take certain classes he wants to take in high school. After his tests, he went to the hobby store to buy himself a figure of Moon Horn from _Star Quest_ as a reward for acing all of those tests. He actually did buy the figure; he rummages through the trash and finds the box containing Moon Horn. His horn has broken from all the jostling; considering what happens to him in the end, Kazdan finds it fitting for Moon Horn.

But he had some money left over, like $3.75, and saw the display of Chaotic cards; he decided to buy a pack with his change because it only cost two bucks plus tax. He slipped the little pack in his front, right pocket while carrying his Moon Horn figure box. He was going to open it at home, but, then after walking a block away from the shop and passing by an alleyway, the bullies grabbed him, beat him, and then dumped him in the garbage _where he belonged_.

He has been bullied before, but it was mostly verbally through vicious gossip or name calling. His tactic with dealing with bullies was to ignore them and ultimately forget about them; in fact, the bullies who attacked him, he couldn’t recall their names. He sort of remembers seeing them in the halls, snickering at him like hyenas as he would walk to his locker, but they wouldn’t do anything to him. He has a feeling they only did this to vent off some steam that they’re going to be held back again. But after this assault, he swears that he will never walk by some alleyway by himself ever again.

He examines his Chaotic pack and wonders if he should open the pack here; there’s a chance that he’ll dirty the cards or the scent of the garbage will seep into the cards like moldering gym socks. But then again, he feels less than zero like he has watched the series finale of _Star Quest_ all over again. To soothe the wounds inflicted on his pride, he tears open the pack. The first thing he sees is a Master Code card used to register your online deck; he frowns and puts the Master Code card all the way in the back of the cards.

The first real card he finds is red; the border and most of the card is red and bright like movie blood. There are stats on the card with numbers by a pink heart, a yellow lightning bolt, a green breeze, and a blue eye; all of this mean nothing to him right now. There is a monster on the card with red skin and roaring to the sky with his bright blue eyes and deep blue horns. There’s fire in the background and the ground is erupting below him and he looks at the corner to see a symbol for fire. There are a bunch of words in black that hold no meaning for him and three red heptagons. He finally reads the flavor text:

_“We’ll take Kiru City and the UnderWorld will rule all of Perim!”— Chaor_

He is Chaor, an UnderWorld Conqueror Warrior. Kazdan feels himself flush with excitement; he is reminded of Mary Renault’s _Fire from Heaven_ which is his favorite book about his favorite conqueror, Alexander the Great. Chaor is a conqueror, an otherworldly conqueror from some hellish world! He’s a cross between a gargoyle (like Thailog) and a dragon (like Kilgharrah) with an ancient warrior’s body. _He sort of reminds me of my—_

“Mom, I just stopped by Griffith’s and I’ll be home in about twenty.” His excitement goes out like a bucket of water smoldering a roaring fire. He knows that it’s Tom talking on his cellphone, walking by the alleyway where Kazdan was beaten and then subsequently dumped in the trash. This is his chance to call for Tom, for his help. Tom could pull him out and maybe take him back to his home to treat his wounds; Tom would most likely offer to beat the crap out of his assailants. Then, they would laugh together like they were best friends again.

Kazdan hugs Chaor to his chest and listens as Tom walks away.

*


	2. Trust Him

Falias, Finias Chapter One

*

Suggested Theme:

Main Theme- The Man Who Sold The World by David Bowie

*

            Perhaps, the best thing about having no friends is the amount of time one has for other activities. Like studying. For the past two summers, Kazdan has always spent his vacation by studying and pretty much keeping up or going beyond what he learned in school that year; except for English because he doesn’t care for it. Due to this, he has aced those tests that he took almost a month ago and doesn’t have to be stuck in classes that he finds boring, except for English. Also, his studious behavior has contributed greatly in his matches on Chaotic.

Now, Kazdan doesn’t have any friends that he can play the card game with, so he had to make do with the online game. His first online match was abysmal since he didn’t know how to play the game at all. After that failure, he furiously devoted his time in studying the game and building his deck. Sometimes, he would see Tom in the hobby store buying cards; sometimes, he wanted to walk right up to Tom. Instead, he would choose to hide in a dark corner and wait for him to disappear. Just like in the dumpster.

It took him a week to get a hang of things, to understand the game, and now he’s pretty much creaming everyone who he fights. Only online, of course. It’s June 22 and it’s noon when he receives Chaotic mail. He thinks it’s only another message for a match or another request to trade for Chaor (and there’s no card worth trading Chaor for). Instead, he gets a “fancy” letter opening animation with a bunch of letters: **QTNSRPO**.

Now, he knows that his Scanner actually can input letters, maybe not as well as texting with cell phones, even though it’s a D-pad. He quickly jots down the “code” and does a quick search through the Chaotic message boards if any of the other players ever received a code. He just wants to make sure that this “code” won’t fuck up his Scanner. He finds nothing in the message boards about any player receiving mail with a bunch of letters. _It’s possible that the admin removed any messages pertaining the code because they’re afraid players will just exchange codes and use them…..to get Ultra Rare scans for their online deck. Why else would there be no information on this; I’m not special._ Kazdan deduces and inputs the code into his Scanner. He half-expects to see an Ultra Rare scan of Chaor like him being on fire and wielding a giant axe; instead, his Scanner goes black like it’s in sleep mode. He then tries to access his online deck, but there’s a stop sign flash preventing him access.

“Oh…….it could be some sort of update. At worse, I’ll just call Chaotic support tomorrow about this.” Kazdan talks to himself which is habit he has acquired over the years; he can’t stand complete silence unless he’s trying to sleep. He’s not that concerned about his Scanner probably being broken; he’ll just see what support can do tomorrow. If they can’t help, then he’ll just have to get a new Scanner and pretty much go through the annoying process of fixing his account. Besides, he’ll just distract himself by cleaning the house and reading about Caesar’s assassination again.

*

Unbeknownst to Kazdan on Earth, the code he inputted created another him. A _him_ that can only access a world that humans didn’t dominate; they weren’t the center of the universe. To be more precise, he now has access to a world that will take him to another world; kind of like the Montressor Spaceport, Crescentia. However, as of this nanosecond, Kazdan of the Earth has no idea of this, but his Chaotic-self does. Well, sort of.

Right now, Kazdan, the one in Chaotic, is looking up and around this unfamiliar, futuristic place that he has been whisked away to. There is a lot of slick, silver metal like the ultra-clean future of _Star Trek_. There are humans walking about the place, some laugh at him as they pass. Above, he sees a bunch of floating monitors that appear to be frozen in their positions; he sees footage of Creatures fighting like the “aliens” in _Star Quest_. He is suddenly grateful that he’s wearing his cleaning shoes, which are just tan boots, because he would hate to walk around in his _Doctor Who_ slippers.

“Can you get up, or do you need assistance?” A snippy, computerized voice snaps Kazdan from his awe. He turns his head to see a floating robot that looks like someone combined the Pixar lamp with an old Apple computer. Now, he has played and read plenty of games and books about AIs, and he knows that being a snippy little shit to an AI is going to get you killed. _And, judging by the voice, this one probably wouldn’t be able to sing me a great song_. Kazdan almost sighs as he stands up.

“Well, aren’t you going to say something? And do try to be original; originality separates the champions from the chumps.” Kazdan briefly muses about refusing to say a word to this AI that is sadly not voiced by Douglas Rain.

“‘And so it is, sorrow and joy. Joy and sorrow. Wherever there are humans. On Earth. In new worlds beyond the stars. Now and forever.’” Kazdan picks a particularly obscure quote to test this AI.

“Quote by Nicole Wakefield from Arthur C. Clarke’s and Gentry Lee’s _Rama Revealed_. I must congratulate you on your restraint for not using _2001: A Space Odyssey_ or screaming your little head off.” Kazdan is fairly impressed by the AI’s knowledge of one of Arthur C. Clarke’s more obscure works. He has never met anyone who actually knew any of Clarke’s other works or that the Stanley Kubrick movie actually has a novel.

“I am neither a champion nor a chump.” Kazdan quietly and carefully says because he does not want to sound disrespectful.

“In any case, welcome to Chaotic.” The AI does not sound as snippy before like he’s deciding to reward the human’s politeness. The human oddly looks him into his screen like he’s a person; if he had a face, the AI would be smirking at this oddity.

“Come now, your match will begin in three minutes.” The AI doesn’t offer a “hand” to help Kazdan up. The ember-hair youth stands up and reflexively brushes dust off his green plaid, sleeveless shall collar sweater and denim hip-huggers. He follows the AI while tightly gripping his Scanner; he looks around, hoping to see anything else alien, anything else that doesn’t exist in human imagination.

Sadly, aside from the army of floating AIs and more shiny surfaces of the inside, the outside is fairly human, even in size. Lots of green foliage, more shiny surfaces, movable walkways, a sleek cable car system, and lots of waterways. Kazdan cannot accurately scale the place, but he has a feeling this place might be some sort of floating island, hovering above certain doom. The closer he is to the water, the louder he hears the rushing like a roaring waterfall.

He is led to a magenta-glass roof building; he is vaguely reminded of the online version of the Drome. He quickly puts it together that he’s probably going to have to fight with his online deck like in the online game. _If I’m just fighting a match like the online one, then what’s the point in having such a building? For show? It seems like such a waste_. Kazdan tries not to let his disappointment show on his face.

“After your match is concluded, I will finish up your tutorial.” The AI crisply announces and a sort of silence ensues. Like the AI is expecting Kazdan to freak out.

“Thank you for being so kind.” Kazdan utters softly, bordering on mutely. If the AI had a face, he would’ve most likely blushed; players don’t usually thank him, least of all they don’t thank him for being kind.

“A word of advice, do not, under any circumstances, tell your opponent about your deck, which Tribe is your favorite, what Locations you liked to use, etc. You would be surprise how often rookies get tricked into believing that their opponent is helping them out of the _kindness_ of their heart.” Kazdan might have been offended by that obvious advice, but then he thinks about how overwhelmed he felt when he first got here. Actually, he’s still a bit overwhelmed; he could’ve easily blathered, if he was social like Tom, to his opponent if the AI didn’t warn him.

“‘We passed upon the stair, we spoke of was and when / Although I wasn't there, he said I was his friend / Which came as some surprise I spoke into his eyes / I thought you died alone, a long, long time ago.’” Kazdan wanted to give the AI one more surprise; and it’s a special one too. He softly sings only one verse to a David Bowie song, but it’s quite a lot for him. Well, it’s only a lot since this is the first time he has ever sang before someone; well, for an AI. Again, more silence ensues; briefly, Kazdan wonders if he “broke” the AI. He knows that his speaking voice is nothing at all like his singing voice; it’s almost like verbal dissociative identity disorder.

“Your match in the Amzen Drome begins in thirty seconds; you better get moving.” Kazdan nods and quietly disappears into the Drome. The place is extravagantly dramatic with semi-dim lighting and a DromeMaster with some personality. All that he can think is:

_“I wonder if I should’ve sang about Major Tom.”_

*

He lost. He lost so quickly and overwhelmingly; and what’s worse, he lost against a scumbag named Klayotic who tried to trick him like the AI warned him. Actually, what’s more humiliating is that he lost to Klay’s Van Bloot with his Chaor. It certainly didn’t help his already wounded pride that Klay mocked him for his username.

 _“You don’t deserve to be called KidChaor; it would be more fitting to call you KidLoser!”_ He can still hear that Aussie sneering at him. But then again his mind is still reeling from the match; he didn’t just play his Chaor card, he actually got to be Chaor! He actually got to be the muscle-bound warrior-demon for a time, a very brief time. He was able to conjure Fire Orbs and use Mugic! And, then he got his ass handed to him by that arrogant ass. He’s a mixture of happiness and aggravation which makes him appear disheartened.

“You’re not a natural, so winning wasn’t possible.” If the AI was human, Kazdan would’ve probably scowled at him. Instead, he slightly appreciates the AI’s attempt at human comforting.

“Klay’s loud, too loud.” Kazdan chooses to vent some of his annoyance about Klay. Kazdan doesn’t like loud people; being loud is an obvious compensation for lack of class.

“It’s redundant at this point. Come, time to finish up your tutorial.” Kazdan wordlessly follows and listens like he has done before. The AI explains about the PortCourt; how you can order food there, how you can trade scans there, how you can issue/refuse challenges, and some inconsequential stuff about CodeMasters and winning a certain number of times in a CodeMaster’s Drome warrants you a chance to face the CodeMaster for an Ultra Rare scan.

“Now, for the most important bit, the PortCourt has transport discs, as you can see, that let you transport to any Location in your deck. All you have to do is select the location and hit the center button of your Scanner and you’ll be there. To return here, all you have to do is hit the red button at the very top of your Scanner. You’re also able to return directly to Earth while you’re in Perim with the very same button if you wish.” Kazdan grips his Scanner tighter than before; he feels like he should build an altar for it, to worship it for its amazing power. He can roam about Perim, the world of Creatures. He can meet Chaor; well, if he’s lucky.

“Also, while in Perim, you can scan Creatures, Battlegear, Locations, and Mugic; you can also port to a new Location, so long as the Location is in your deck, if you want while there without a transport disc. However, I do suggest that you port back to Earth now; most players on Earth presume that their Scanners have broken and call up Chaotic Tech Support to curse them out, or stupidly toss away their Scanners into the trash.” Kazdan knows that there’s no way his Earth-self would toss away his Scanner; he would most likely call up support in a day for answers. _Who is stupid enough to throw away their Scanner? These things are as expensive as IPhones._ He scoffs inwardly at the hasty actions panicky people undertake.

“I’m going to explore Perim. I’m not stupid enough to trash something so expensive. Once again, thank you for all your help.” Kazdan steps onto a pale, round halo of the Transportation Center. He already has chosen his first Location to explore, UnderWorld City. The AI is watching him, most likely making sure nothing goes wrong during the boy’s first port.

“Ground control to Major Tom, take your protein pills and put your helmet on.” Kazdan finally makes the stupid expression that the AI has been waiting for. Again, if the AI had a face or even lips, he would be smirking at the boy’s agape expression. Kazdan ports out in a stream of blue code wordlessly.

“Hopefully, someone will make the space oddity a Starman.” The AI quips and then hears the telltale scream of a rookie. He wishes he was programmed to sigh and then hovers to the screaming player; it’s in his programming to help screaming idiots.

*

UnderWorld City, how to describe such a Location? Well, first is the smell. The cards aren’t scratch-or-sniff kind, but he has always presumed that the place would most likely smell like sewage rot and sulfuric bombs. Basically, he expects the place to stink like a thousand rotting corpses; and it does stink, but the stink is being overpowered by the scent of smoke. All kinds of smoke; some rivaling Victorian industrial, others of tar-coated coal, and of course some that smell natural like geysers. And then there is the most worrisome smell, the smell of fire attacks.

He sees what he sees in the cards except not coated in paint and red borders. Lots of gray grime, black puddles, and rusty metal decorate the place like a dystopia trapped in the Dark Ages. He did see some stain glass; there is a stain glass panel of Chaor. He actually takes a picture of it with his Scanner. He then quickly moves out of the way when he sees a green, gluttonous giant coming his way; he doesn’t look the giant in the eyes, eye-contact makes him uncomfortable. He realizes afterwards that it was Dardemus.

One final thing about the Location; there is no map outlining the place. Plus, he can’t read any of the signs here. They’re in some sort of pictograph, animal-scratch language; deciphering hieroglyphics isn’t his specialty. He has no idea where Chaor’s Castle is; in fact, he’s not exactly certain where he is exactly in UnderWorld City.

He knows that he needs some sort of guide that can guide him around the city and explain what some of the signs mean. He pulls out his Scanner and searches through his cards for an UnderWorlder that can help him. It only takes him a minute of hard searching to find the ideal UnderWorlder who can help him; one that wouldn’t kill him on the spot. It’s H’earring; he’s an UnderWorld Scout that should know every nook and cranny of the city.

Kazdan knows that the best bet of finding someone is to ask around; problem is Kazdan knows that UnderWorlders aren’t OverWorlders. They aren’t going to help him out of the goodness of their hearts; they’ll want something and he has nothing to offer. He doesn’t know the currency here and he certainly doesn’t have any information that would useful to Creatures. So, aimlessly, he wanders about the city, on the lookout for H’earring.

*

He wishes that the cards had more useful flavor text like what’s a Creature’s favorite hangout is. He’s been wishing that for about three hours now. It’s getting dark, which is amazing considering how Kazdan has yet to find a sun shining in the place; he guesses that there is light because sunlight streams from the OverWorld into the cracks of the UnderWorld. Like secondhand scraps.

“Hey, not a bright idea for you to be wandering alone here.” Those words alone should’ve send a chill down Kazdan’s spine and convinced him to port the Hell out of there; however, those words are coupled with a voice that sounds like Blunk on helium. The strange, funny voice is coming from an alleyway; Kazdan beings to tremble at the muscle memory of his beating. He doesn’t want to walk in there, and, luckily for him, the stranger comes out from the alleyway.

“H’earring?” Kazdan feels his voice go reedy. The mutated green rabbit emerges munching on a leg of rotten meat; there’s a lazy smirk on his face.

“Yeah, who wants to know?” Again, those words should’ve sounded rude, but the voice makes the words sound jovial.

“Greetings, I am Kazdan Kalinkas.” Kazdan does a small sort of bow; he’s not familiar with how people greet each other in Perim, but bowing is never wrong and it’s quite ego-stroking. H’earring cheeks flare into a deeper green.

“Uh, thanks. I think you should save the bowing for Chaor.” Kazdan’s eyes lit up like twin comets. H’earring makes a motion with one of his hands that is saying, “Woah, calm down!”

“Look, no one ‘meets’ Chaor unless he wills it, so you might want to let that dream die. What’s he going to do with a human anyways?” Kazdan feels a blow, a blow he should’ve expected, to his self-esteem. He completely forgot that Chaor would have no use for a weak human such as himself. _Not unless he’s planning on taking over Earth, and even then!_ Kazdan inwardly snorts.

“That’s fine. I actually need a guide for around the city and, well, the rest of the UnderWorld too.” Kazdan blushes from being a bit flustered. It’s been a while since he actually asked someone for help (even at school, he never asked his teachers for help, rather for clarification on an assignment); the last time he asked for help was Tom……..well, “almost” doesn’t count.

“Okay, but it’s going to cost you. If you can get me some Dractyl scales or some pond scum, then I’ll give you a tour of the city.” Kazdan has no idea where these “Dractyl scales” are, but the pond scum gives him a bit of hope.

“That would be most agreeable. Thank you for being so kind.” Once again, a non-human is taken aback by the “kindness” bit. H’earring nearly chokes on a particularly tough piece of meat. He has to pound his own chest and spits out the meat.

“I think it’s smart that you’re so polite, but it would probably be best if you don’t talk much. Most UnderWorlders would think you’re some kind of OverWorld sympathizer. But that’s just my advice, take it or leave it.” Kazdan nods in agreements; he knows that being talkative has done nothing good for him. Silence is golden, after all.

“Where can I find you when I have what you want?” H’earring thinks for a bit; he knows that this kid probably doesn’t know how to read like all of the Chaotic players that have been showing up for like a year now. So, he decides it would be best to stick to famous landmarks.

“Okay, do you know the building with that tall spires and a stain glass panel with Chaor? I’ll be around that place like midday, so you’ll most likely find me there.” The kid with fire-colored hair and dirt-colored eyes grins proudly like he has won a fight; H’earring sort of pities the kid’s enthusiasm since it appears it’s been a while since the kid actually had something good happen to him. _He’s kind of pathetic like those Troubadours_. H’earring holds his tongue because the kid has been nothing but amicable with him.

“Well, goodbye!” Kazdan shouts and ports back to Earth. H’earring walks away and shakes his head. _Chaor would eat this kid alive_.

*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Comments- I decided not to write about Kazdan’s first match for this reason: I don’t give a shit about the matches that went on in the show. I preferred world-building over the matches for the most part; I don’t hate the matches, but I don’t want to write about them. I actually will probably write one, but that’s only for plot reasons. For the most part, this story will be world-building, gradual world-building. Kind of like the show, except it’ll get graphic at some points. 
> 
> Now, I don’t know what Kaz’s first meeting was like with H’earring in the show because it was never shown and my book on Chaotic isn’t helping me there. So I tried my best to replicate that meeting but with Kazdan. Also, I slipped in (or rather dumped) some David Bowie, W.I.T.C.H., and Arthur C. Clarke references. I’m not even certain if any of those actually exist in Kaz’s world, but I like to take liberties. Also, the Troubadours comment can be answered now with Ethereal; however, if you don’t want to read that, then just wait until I get to it in this story.


	3. Bare Your Lonely Soul

Falias, Finias Chapter Two

**

Suggested Theme:

Main Theme- Isolation by Joy Division

**

            Kazdan discovers a neat little trick, or rather uncovers another rule, about porting his code to Chaotic. You can bring anything (well, he hasn’t tried to bring weapons or booze) you want to Chaotic; however, you can’t take anything out. He found this out when he first returned to Earth. He spent a dizzying thirty minutes processing what happened to him in Perim before porting right back to Chaotic. Unfortunately, he realized that he brought his mop with him (he was mopping up the kitchen floor) to the PortCourt. He then ported back to Earth to return the mop, but the mop didn’t return.

Now, Kazdan knows that he either needs to get Dractyl scales (which he doesn’t know where he could possibly find those) or pond scum for H’earring so he can get that tour. However, H’earring didn’t specify if the pond scum needed to be from the UnderWorld; instead of spending fruitless hours of wandering the UnderWorld, he has decided to simply take advantage of the little Scanner loophole and just get some pond scum from the local park.

He waits until about four in the morning to go get the pond scum. He could’ve gone that night after his first foray into Chaotic, but he was frankly tired from cleaning the house, although he never quite finished his mopping, and he just wanted to make his dinner. He didn’t really sleep well that night; he was too excited from his time from Perim, from actually meeting a Creature. For a chance to explore the UnderWorld properly.

He decides to don the clothes from his closet. The clothes from his closet are just baggy green shirts, cargo pants, and decent hiking boots; these are clothes that his mom bought in bulk for him. He only wears these clothes when his mom is home or when he has to get himself dirty; his usual attire resides in his armoire and belonged to his dad. He decides to use his clunky, black rain boots because he doesn’t want to ruin his hiking boots. He also dons a pair of black rubber gloves that he normally used to clean the gutters with.

He slips out of his home and it only takes him about twenty minutes of speed walking to reach his destination; the park is deserted of the human populace at this time which makes it so much easier for him to scoop up the pond scum into his garbage bag. He knows most of what the scoops into the bag is just green water with barely solidified pond scum, but he figures this is better than nothing. He hopes that H’earring will accept it.

*

When Kazdan ports to the UnderWorld, he realizes that he’s in an entirely different spot than the last time he was here. He groans inwardly; apparently, as he just discovered, you do not end up in the same spot you ported to. He’s sleep-deprived, wearing clothes he doesn’t like, and he’s lugging around a garbage bag of pond scum. He hopes that the pond scum (which is mostly water) doesn’t evaporate from the heat in the UnderWorld.

“It wasn’t this hot yesterday and that was in the afternoon! Maybe, the mornings are always this muggy?” Kazdan slips into his habit of talking out loud to himself; he tends to do this when he’s alone and as far as he could tell he sees no one around. But then again, UnderWorlders are known for being sneaky, maybe not as sneaky as Mipedians, but they are supposed to be masters of deceptions.

“Shit, H’earring told me to get to that ‘cathedral’ at noon………it’ll probably take me longer to find the place!” Kazdan curses at his own eagerness for getting the pond scum when he should’ve made some kind of map or gathered information from the PortCourt beforehand. He could port back to Chaotic, but he’s afraid that he’ll lose his bag of pond scum. In the end, he decides it would be best to just wander and hope for the best.

*

He wanders through the cobblestone streets and gazes at the buildings surrounding him, hoping for some telltale signs of familiarity. Aside from rusting metal scraps, crumbling buildings, and other almost medieval-dystopian features litter the landscape. Actually, if Kazdan had to bluntly describe UnderWorld City, it looked like a dump, especially in comparison to Earth. He’s pretty certain that the city makes some third-world countries look good, if only for a split second.

He turns another unrecognizable corner to find at least one building worth remembering. The building has a door as red as Chaor and looks like a raggedy apartment that an urban hobbit would live in; it’s tucked between two dirty, limestone buildings like a burrow. He is almost mildly impressed that the tiny building sports a balcony with rickety shutters. The red door with a golden-ring knocker swings open and out comes H’earring.

“So that’s what I was smelling!” Kazdan nearly falls to the ground when H’earring rushes him and climbs him like a tree. He flinches and cringes at being touched; for him, being touched, especially if the touch is harmless in nature, is exceedingly rare. Touch usually signifies pain for him, either physically or emotionally. Even when his mom kisses his cheek, whenever she’s about to go back to Boston, he has to force himself not to recoil in revulsion. And he actually loves his mom…….or at least, as much as he’s able to.

“H’earring, please, stop!” Kazdan hears his voice cracking and crumbling like the buildings around him; he feels his cheeks flush in hot embarrassment at his weakness. _God, I would be the worst UnderWorlder in Perim! What UnderWorlder almost cries at being touched?_ He trembles and feels H’earring finally getting off of his body. He doesn’t look at H’earring; he doesn’t want to see the pity in the Creature’s eyes that he knows must be there.

“So……I’ve got to go to Chaor’s Castle to see if I can score some ingredients for dinner tonight; we can start your tour there. But, first, I’ll just store this snack inside for later.” Kazdan gives H’earring the garbage bag; he still refuses to look at H’earring as he returns to his house. He patiently waits for H’earring to come back; he only sees tufts of red and green skin that signal that H’earring is walking away from him. Kazdan follows him silently like a terrified little boy.

*

Kazdan is barely containing his excitement; he’s grinning like a madman. He feels like every step he takes makes his blood roar happily; there’s a chance that he’ll meet Chaor. After all, the Location is called Chaor’s Castle. Does that necessarily guarantee he’ll see Chaor? No, but he wants to be hopeful. He really wants to believe that he’ll meet his hero. Does he expect his hero to be overjoyed to see him? Hell no, but he figures that Chaor won’t reject his praises to the mighty warrior, so that’ll be a start.

Chaor’s Castle is easily the most impressive (at least, by his bias opinion) Location in UnderWorld City. It’s a collection of spires and natural walls. The spires are made of a coppery metal that almost shines like tarnish gold against the proverbial red of the UnderWorld; the spires’ tops are odd assortment of clashing styles like some look like medieval maces and others look like spikes from Chaor’s back. The natural walls look like they sprung up from the volcanic ground and were then molded by the former conqueror kings (and maybe some queens) of the UnderWorld; some of the walls look pinkish and puckered like newborn scars.

Of course, Kazdan scans the Location; he only has a scan of UnderWorld City, not of Chaor’s Castle itself. He’s pretty certain that this will be the only way for him to get a piece of this Location. He also notices that H’earring does not take the front door route; instead, they walk for about five minutes to reach the back of the castle. He has a feeling, by the look of the intimidating Crimson Guard knockoffs, that they are not worthy of going through the front door. _Man, I wanted to check out the great hall and the throneroom._ He pouts inwardly, not wanting to garner any response from the guards.

The back entrance is guarded but somehow seems less odious; although, the fresh smell of copper is a bit alarming to Kazdan. They pause in front of the guards and H’earring briefly talks to one of them before the guards let them go through the back gate. The guards do not spare either of them a glance, not even for the wimpy human.

“Okay, don’t say anything for the next couple of minutes. Most Creatures don’t like humans especially the talkative ones. And believe me, the kitchen mistress **_hates_** mouthy humans. Pretend you’re mute.” Kazdan gives H’earring a withering look that consists of a frown and arching his eyebrows. He wants to sarcastically inform the mutant rabbit that he has gone a whole month without talking before (he tested it out back in seventh grade; none of his teachers or classmates reacted to his month-long silence) and hasn’t even utter a word in the past twenty minutes. H’earring frowns back at him and then shrugs his annoyance off.

It takes them about five minutes, where their slow walking became speed walking and then finally jogging, to reach the backdoor to the kitchens. H’earring knocks on the red-stained, Kazdan has finally found the source of the copper smell, wooden door. Kazdan almost offers H’earring to lift him up so he can use the gaudy, gold doorknocker; however, his kind offer dies at the screeching sound of the door being opened.

“You always have to be on time, don’t ya, H’earring?” A woman, or at least he presumes so if her ample breasts were anything to go by, leers at H’earring. She is massive in height and weight, and also green like a Martian whale. She is wearing a raggedy brown dress with an apron stained with so much red; Kazdan is pretty certain that she’s the cause for the blood on the door. He is also certain that she must be related to Dardemus.

“Can’t resist seeing your golden smile, gives me another reason to wake up in the morning.” H’earring coos saccharinely. Kazdan resists the urge to gag visibly; he hates their flirting. In fact, he hates seeing people, human or non-human, flirting; flirting reminds him of his lacking social décor and how unattractive he is. _God, it’s sad when a radioactive-mutated rabbit can actually attract someone unlike me._ Kazdan grimaces and then quickly reverts back to his apathy; he hopes that the kitchen mistress didn’t notice.

“What’s the little Troubadour doing with ya?” The kitchen mistress glares at Kazdan; his hopes are dashed once again.

“Oh, I promised him a tour of the city if he got me some snacks. Maybe, you and I can share the snacks together _later_.” H’earring adds a sultry wink. The kitchen mistress bats her yellow-fever eyes. Once again, Kazdan wants to gag, but this time he retains his apathy successfully.

“Well, I can’t let this bag of bones wander the castle; Lord Chaor is already in a right snit over a failed raid. Then again, Lord Chaor could always use a new punching bag; I would kill for a break from his stomping and shaking up the castle. Then again, he’ll blame me and we won’t be able have our date _later_.” Kazdan inwardly throws up in his mind when the kitchen mistress sticks out her arrow-shaped tongue and swipes suggestively over her yellowing shark teeth.

**_WAH!_ **

Kazdan’s apathy is replaced with shock; he hears a baby coming somewhere inside. His mind runs rampant at the baby’s wail. _Oh God, is that baby an ingredient? Is that baby going to be chopped up and fed to Chaor like Pelops? Does Chaor eat babies? Do UnderWorlders eat babies? Fuck, what if H’earring double crosses me and offers me up to this ogress for her disgusting banquet for Chaor?!_ He feels his face drain of color and his stomach tightening. The urge to port out grows with every passing second.

“Shit, the sickly babe woke up. Nivenna told me that sleeping draught should’ve kept the babe asleep for half the day. Maybe, the babe’s a lot tougher than he looks. Or Lord Chaor trashing his training room is what did it.” The kitchen mistress and H’earring flinch when the mysterious baby lets out another weak but rippling wail. Kazdan is twitching; his instincts are screaming at him to go inside and comfort the baby. The baby is crying for attention!

“Look at that, the twiggy human actually has intensity in his body; well, some. Maybe, a human can actually be of some use, while you can help me search for some Harpy lard in the pantry.” Kazdan nearly trips over H’earring to get inside. The kitchen is the literal Hell’s kitchen. He sees a table covered in blood and buckets filled with pink entrails and multicolored eyeballs. He sees a massive stove spitting out blue-gas flames; he sees an almost cauldron-size, blacken pot frothing with brown, greasy bubbles. There’s a rusted trough filled with stacks of dirty, slimy metal plates, forks, knives, and even some silver spoons. The room itself is as red as the guards outside and the floor is like the dirty cobblestone roads of the city. _I really hope that the baby wasn’t left in some bucket of intestines._ Kazdan scowls at the baby’s sudden silence.

“The wispy mute almost ran you over, H’earring. Must really want to see the sad little thing.” The kitchen mistress tsks like she finds Kazdan’s compassion for a baby to be childish. If he wasn’t half-certain that the kitchen mistress would happily beat him with the cleaver and dump him into the pot, Kazdan would have cussed her out.

**_CRASH!_ **

Kazdan jumps back from the surprise stomp from above; he realizes that the Chaor has to be one who did that. Momentarily, he is excited again; he’s literally only a floor away from Chaor. But then, he hears the hidden baby begin to whine again, clearly frightened by the sudden noise. The whining is coming from behind a rosewood (or at least the Perim equivalent of the wood) door with a tarnished golden knob and a rusted keyhole. He practically sprints across the kitchen and tries to open the door, only to hear the annoying jangle of it being locked.

“Hold on! Humans are so impatient, rivaling Lord Chaor.” He hears the kitchen mistress mutters under her breath; another stomp shakes the ceiling again. She slowly, and he’s pretty certain that she’s being slow just to annoy him, walks over and unlocks the door. And then, like a sledgehammer to a mirror, Kazdan is pushed inside and then hears the key turn to lock the door again. There’s giggling and guffawing outside the door; he hears them, H’earring and the kitchen mistress, leave him to search for ‘Harpy lard’ in the food pantry.

“I hope that pond scum gives him diarrhea!” Kazdan curses at H’earring breaking his word. _So much for a tour around UnderWorld City! Sex makes even Creatures stupid!_ Kazdan dry heaves at the subsequent thought of H’earring having sex with that bloated, irresponsible ogress.

He looks around the dimly lit, the only light coming from a torch with a strange glowing crystal, room and sees yellowing tarps on furniture; he sees three glass cases loaded with very delicate-looking, gold-painted plates and crystal champagne glasses. _This is probably where they hide their good china; where are the goblets? Are they stored somewhere else? It would be pretty lame if Chaor had to drink out of one of those frilly glasses; maybe the goblets are stored with the weapons. Honestly, in Chaor’s hands, anything can be a weapon._ Kazdan lets out a geeky snigger.

“Mmmhhh……” The baby softly whines; he finds the baby in the darkest corner of the room. The baby is in a box labelled in the pictograph language that he saw on the signs; luckily, he can visibly see scraps of white, red, black, and gold cloth in the box. He guesses that the box contains handkerchiefs or fancy dinner serviettes. He happily finds the baby on top of the scraps and is happy to see the babe at least dressed in a gray onesie with three red buttons.

“Thank the non-existing God that you weren’t buried in this.” He whispers softly as he picks the baby up gently. The baby is shockingly white, whiter than the moon; the baby’s hair is just as white as the skin and would almost disappear into it if not for the thick tresses. The baby also has pupil-less, ice-blue eyes like Chaor; in fact, the eyes have the exact same color as Chaor’s eyes. The baby has a Roman nose where the bridge is high enough to make it looked hook; however, the lips are shaped like Cupid’s bow and are just a couple shades darker than the skin.

“Okay, let’s make sure you don’t have a filthy diaper. At worse, the kitchen mistress will have a _real_ mess to clean up.” He talks to himself, although he is saying out loud so he’s not really talking to himself. He puts the baby on the floor and unbuttons the onesie; he then pulls the onesie down to see more moon-pale skin and a thick, brown cloth diaper with red snaps. He doesn’t smell anything, but it is probable that baby’s poop doesn’t stink. He unbuttons the sides of the diaper and sees no fecal traces or yellow stains.

“Oh, you’re a boy! Good to know that some Creatures’ genders are easy to figure out. Although, H’earring………I don’t want to finish that thought.” He buttons up the diaper and buttons up the onesie. He lifts up the baby and stands him up like a toy soldier. The baby gives him an open-mouth smile, revealing some tiny, shark-looking teeth.

“Wow, you’ve got Chaor’s teeth too! I won-” He is cut off by a fairly large stomp that causes a bit of plaster from the ceiling to fall like a waterfall of dust. Immediately, the baby stops smiling and begins to whimper, signaling to Kazdan that the baby is probably about to cry again and perhaps very loudly.

“Oh no, dearie, don’t cry. I’ve got you! I’ll sing you a song, a very loud song to block out that scary stomping.” Kazdan coos patronizingly and takes out his Scanner. He is so grateful that the very expensive (considering how they can teleport you to another dimension would explain the exorbitant prices) Scanner is equipped to play music. He immediately goes through and picks out an instrumental track. For about four seconds, there is only drumming before the bass comes in and about six seconds later the 80s synth kicks in. Kazdan taps his foot and cradles the baby into his arms. The baby stops his whimpering and stares up at him like he’s waiting for something magical to happen.

_“In fear every day, every evening,_

_He calls her aloud from above,_

_Carefully watched for a reason,_

_Painstaking devotion and love._

_Surrendered to self-preservation,_

_From others who care for themselves,_

_A blindness that touches perfection,_

_But hurts just like anything else.”_

Kazdan is pretty certain that singing a Joy Division song to a baby is perhaps not his brightest idea. He has sang for babies before, but usually something happy and obviously approved by the mother. However, there’s no hovering mother telling him what educational, positive song to sing; plus, it’s not like the baby is going to remember this, hopefully.

_“Isolation,_

_Isolation,_

_Isolation.”_

Kazdan winces at how loudly he belts out _isolation_ and hopes that Chaor isn’t going to come down and potentially beat up the idiot interrupting his temper tantrum. He doesn’t hear any loud stomping and presumes that he is safe. He then smiles at the baby and blows a bit of air onto his face; the baby smiles and blows air right back at him.

_“Mother, I tried, please believe me._

_I’m doing the best that I can._

_I’m ashamed of the things_

_I’ve been put through._

_I’m ashamed of the person I am.”_

He knows that he can’t match Ian Curtis’s despair, but he likes to believe that he comes close. And besides, who is going to compare him to Ian Curtis here? Actually, he finds it kind of sad that Perim probably doesn’t have something like Joy Division for music around here.

_“Isolation,_

_Isolation,_

_Isolation.”_

Three has always been his favorite number, and his dad once told him that three is a very important number in their magical heritage. Part of him feels like he’s casting some kind of curse on the baby, ensuring the poor babe to be alone for the rest of his life. A more, rational side of him tells him to keep singing and the baby will be just fine.

_“But if you could just see the beauty,_

_These things I could never describe._

_These pleasures a wayward distraction,_

_This is my one broken prize.”_

He knows that the end is coming, only one more refrain to go. He is sadden by this because this song always left him wanting more lyrics, more poetry. There won’t be anymore because this is all that there is to this song; everything has a conclusion.

_“Isolation,_

_Isolation,_

_Isolation,_

_Isolation,_

_Isolation.”_

The baby drools a bit but shows off another open-mouth, toothy smile. He is pleased by the human’s performance. Kazdan almost smirks smugly, pretending that the baby is demanding for an encore. He rewinds the track again and begins again; he’ll sing until H’earring and the kitchen mistress comes to fetch them. He’s not about to leave this infant alone again, even the isolated ones deserve affection.

*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Comments- Wow, this took much longer than expected, but school has a way of distracting me. I literally changed the song five times before happily settling on this song; originally, I was going to use “Where Do We Go But Nowhere” by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. Then, I got into Joy Division and went from “A Means to an End” to “Dead Souls” to “She Lost Control” before stumbling and settling on “Isolation.” This song is far more fitting for the party involved: a kid without a friend, a baby without a mother, and a lord without a soul. I’m being poetic on that last part. 
> 
> Not entirely certain how many chapters it will be before I reach my version of the first episode. I just want to do some building for the characters, or rather Kazdan, and the world. I’m even working on some Perim terms for time because the guide I have doesn’t necessarily tell me how Creatures label time. Again, not certain when the next chapter will be out, but hopefully before school starts up again.


	4. Have Some Guts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After H’earring leaves Kazdan in a closet for six hours, Kazdan decides the wisest course of action is to storm out and go blindly into the city. Which actually might turn out to be the best thing he has done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer- I don’t own anything in the Chaotic universe nor any other universes; I just like writing stories in that universe. We are still in pre-season one of the story because I like dabbling in world-building. Also, Kaz is still Kazdan much to his dismay.

Falias, Finias Chapter Three

***

Suggested Theme:

Main Theme- Sorrow’s Child by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

***

            Six hours. Six fucking hours is how long Kazdan waited in the closet with the little sickly babe before H’earring and his kitchen slut came to free them. His voice gave out after three hours of singing to the moon-white babe. He switched to the regular tracks after that, letting other singers’ voices do the serenading for him. But he kept holding the sickly baby, and hoping that the baby wouldn’t need a diaper change in those hours. And in that regard, the universe sided with him.

When H’earring and the ogress finally opened the door, Kazdan was glowering at them. He is barely keeping his anger at bay, afraid to wake up the sleeping tot in his arms. Miraculously, he does not shove the baby into H’earring’s tiny arms and curse the horny mutant rabbit.

“It took a while to find the Harpy lard.” H’earring sheepishly states with his cheeks flushed emerald. Kazdan is unable to reply vocally, but he makes his displeasure known with his face. He’s scowling at him like he did whenever he would think about Tom for long periods of time.

_I can see that._ Kazdan wishes he could grit out, but his voice feels overworked and scratchy. The ogress reaches and snatches the sleeping baby from his arms; he feels a perceptible loss in his arms. _Oh, I’ve become attached to the babe? Or perhaps I pity him…no, I’ve become attached. He’s the only Creature that has yet to screw me over. But there’s still time._

“So…ready to see the rest of UnderWorld City?” Kazdan gives one final scathing look before nearly pushing H’earring out of his way. He’s pissed at H’earring, at the ogress, at the baby’s neglect, and at himself for setting his expectations so _high_. In the end, all of his anger drains out of him and he’s left with hollow logic. _This is the UnderWorld! Since when has a place with that kind of name ever meant filled with trustworthy individuals!_

“Feisty, ain’t he?” He hears the ogress slyly remark as Kazdan storms out of the kitchen. He walks without looking back or even surveying his surroundings. He does notice one change; it is darker outside, not exactly night but clearly not high noon. His eyes appreciate the almost-light darkness, but they unfortunately wander and examine what is hidden in the faux dark.

_I should have not left without H’earring._ He comes to realize as he looks down an alleyway; he sees trash and moldy bread with puddles of rust-colored water. He sees rats shoving their distorted noses into the garbage; chills go down his spine when he thinks he sees a rat gnawing on a finger with its yellowing, sharp teeth.

_Oh wait, that’s just a really moldy stick…I hope._ Kazdan wisely decides to get away from the alleyway. He continues to walk the still unfamiliar streets of UnderWorld City. He makes sure to look as quickly as possible around fairly dimly streets; he fears getting stabbed by some thief in the shadows.

_I should’ve just swallowed my anger and let H’earring show me around. Why……did I have to fly off the handle? Is this what I get for being Chaor, even if it was for a couple minutes, I get brave enough to express my anger? To be aggressive for a short moment, and then pay for it down the road? I’m not Chaor……I’m not strong. I’m weak._ He considers porting out. He reaches into his pocket and he stiffens with horror.

**_OH FUCK!!_** Kazdan immediately turns around and sprints back to Chaor’s Castle. _How the fuck could I forget my Scanner!? That’s like forgetting radio static means monsters nearby in Silent Hill!_ He hopes that he left the Scanner on top of the box of rags and not accidently dropped it somewhere.

_I swear to the universe that I will chain the damn thing to my neck if I get it back!_ He wonders how many players have died from this kind of oversight, from omitting their Scanner’s location. _Maybe this is how they weed out the weak players from the strong, or rather the stupid from the intelligent. I guess I’m stupid too._

He sees the familiar, guarded back gate and stops nearly four feet from the gate. _Hold on, how am I going to get pass the guards? I’m not with H’earring! And they certainly won’t let some unknown human through! And there’s no way with my lack of strength can fight my way through! Plus, distracting them is out of the question because they look……alert and aren’t stupid AIs that will move away if they hear a bottle being broken. What am I going to do?_

He sees no other option but to wait. By now, H’earring must’ve left and gone home. He expects that H’earring must visit the castle every morning or so if his limited experience on the Creature is anything to go by. And he figures it must be better than wandering haphazardly around the city with night fast approaching. _I doubt any UnderWorlder is willing to give a strange human any shelter for the night……but at least I won’t be a feast for the rats. Tonight._

He takes a seat right by about six feet from the gate. He wants to believe that maybe the light of the lamppost might shield him from whatever……….shadowy beings that like to roam the UnderWorld at night.

_I wonder if the guards would react if I got eaten by some hellhound…………probably not._

*

Kazdan does not immediately nod off like most bored teenagers do in fiction. No, he suffers from the inability to nap, especially in a place where he believes that he’ll get eaten by rats if he closes his eyes for more than a blink. So he turns to the oldest tool at his disposal to distract him from boredom: mentally counting the seconds.

_10,800. 10,801. 10,802. 10, 80—_ His counting is interrupted when he hears footfalls, almost like the clopping of a horse’s hooves, coming from the right of him. He swivel his head to the right, tearing his attention from the motionless guards and from his numbers.  

He sees her before she even notices him. Her skin is pale enough to look almost blue like she’s suffering from hypothermia, even though it was hot enough to roast a marshmallow on some parts of the crumbling sidewalk. She has choppy, neon-red hair with pine-green eyes; her lips are violet-purple and she has really long, pointed ears like some kind of demonic elf. Her armor further adds to her demonic elf appearance; she is wearing a purple armored-dress with golden accents and a violet diadem. _Woah, she’s like the most human-looking Creature I’ve seen……in the UnderWorld. Not in the cards; I think that belongs to Lystone…if she wasn’t a small fairy._

Finally, he sees her eyes narrow at him, clearly assessing if he’s going try and rob her. _As if I could! I’m about as muscular as a limp noodle!_ She walks towards him, completely assured of her own ability to take him on if necessary. Kazdan realizes that she may be his chance at getting his Scanner back. _Now how do I get her attention without coming off as some kind of creep?_ He only has ten seconds to wonder before she comes near his little space below the street lamp.

“Uh, please, would you help me?” Kazdan quietly and submissively asks; his throat burns from sudden use. _I should’ve drank some water…… from that green puddle that looks like radioactive rat piss._ _Are there any clean sources of water here? Or do they have to drink like water-downed wine? Or maybe the UnderWorlders adapted to drinking filthy water given the pollution of………everything._

“A human asking nicely for help? Normally, your kind just pops in for a scan and disappear without a word. Well, those who just happen to know what stealth is. The clumsy ones typically get burned alive.” She comments darkly, making Kazdan look away nervously. _Okay, I guess I’m……not clumsy? I’m smart? Well, book-smart. Streets, not so much. I mean I know that I can’t take on a Creature. And she clearly knows that too? Maybe she’ll have pity on me?_

“Um, I-I know that I’m not good at deception. I just…..want my Scanner back. H’earring took me to the kitchens earlier, but then he left me in….this closet while he f-fucked the ogress. I….found this really pale baby and took care of it until they let me out…..I left my Scanner in the closet.” Kazdan brokenly rambles and stutters out. This time he made sure to look into her eyes so that she can know that he wasn’t lying. _She isn’t glaring at me or saying my story is bullshit. That’s good, right? Fuck, I can’t tell! I mean humans and Creatures have some similarities like speaking English and I guess some etiquette……maybe music? Still though, I don’t really know all the intricacies of the UnderWorld culture. For all I know, meekness may translate as a “Fuck you” to some UnderWorlders!_

“That’s not really new, except _you_ and your Scanner. I guess the babe didn’t sleep all day like my potion intended…he’s resistant. And at least he wasn’t alone all day again…” _Didn’t the ogress mention someone named Nivenna making a sleeping potion or something? So, she’s Nivenna. Well……I guess she looks like a Nivenna. I’m not certain how they do names here and if names have meanings. At least in the UnderWorld._ He notices that Nivenna has yet to give him an answer.

“I-I understand if you refuse…..I can wait for H’earring if I must.” _Fuck no, I don’t want to wait in this creepy darkness any longer! And I’m really, really tired of sitting on this unforgiving pavement._ He’s also tired of feeling so….weak. He’s literally craning his head upwards and she’s literally looking down on him. _I like the UnderWorlders because everyone looks down on them, especially the OverWorlders. In the game, the online one; I’m not certain about the ones in the PortCourt exactly. Most OverWorld players, online, acted like they were better than me……but then I beat them; I beat the so-called heroes! And none of this is really helping me right now…_

“Wait here. I’ll go get your Scanner.” Kazdan feels excited flames fan across his body; he has to stop himself from hugging her in gratitude. _She would totally kick my ass if I did that and I’d never get my Scanner back. And hugging……is kind of intimate._ He waits eagerly, rocking himself back and forth like a rickety rocking chair. The guards let her pass without even questioning her; he presumes that Nivenna must be pretty high up in the chain-of-command. _Probably not even close to Takinom’s level, but still up there._

It takes her ten minutes to return; he sees his Scanner in her hand and he has to stop himself from running over to her. What stops him once again is logic and justified paranoia: the guards would probably shoot him dead if he ran towards her like some sort of crazed attacker. _Even though I’m weaker than H’earring._ Kazdan finally stands up when she’s about a foot away from him. He holds out his hands for his Scanner, expecting her to just drop it in his hands and leave without a second thought to the human.

“In the UnderWorld, you don’t get anything for free.” His stomach drops and he pales at her words. _Oh no, she’s not going to give back my Scanner! What do I do? If I attack her and just take it back……yeah, that’s not going to happen. Again, she could and would kick my ass. And probably kill me afterwards. So……I have to pay for my Scanner’s return? With what? I don’t have any money and she doesn’t seem like the type to want something disgusting like pond scum. Am I to be her slave for an indefinite amount of time? Well, it would be short since I’m pretty certain I’d die of some kind of lung disease for “living” here for more than a year._

“Then how do I pay you?” Anger colors his words and steadies his raspy voice.

“Follow me.” She orders firmly with a slight hint of annoyance in her voice. _I guess she doesn’t expect anger from a groveling worm like me! I’ve got anger……but I’ve got to rein it in! That’s how I got in trouble in the first place._ He complies and follows behind her like some sort of meek stray wanting food.

This time Kazdan tries his best to memorize his way from the castle to wherever it is she is taking him. He sees the church with the stain-glasswork of Chaor’s impressive visage, but they do not go down the street with the church. They go onwards and pass more shoddy buildings of scrap metal and cobblestones. They pass a place that looks a lot like a marketplace, but all the vendors have packed up for the night. He wonders if the vendors just sold weapons, or pieces of irons, or nearly-spoiled food.

_Maybe someone sells stained glass or maybe some kind of UnderWorld flower……I really hope they don’t sell slaves here. Or have any slaves……but I bet they have indentured servants which is a form of slavery. I doubt they have serfs here because the UnderWorld definitely doesn’t look like a farm-friendly Location. They might have their own version of cattle…but not in the city. I think._ Kazdan wishes there was some kind of textbook on the UnderWorld, preferably written in a language he can actually read. He hates not knowing the details of something magnificent like the UnderWorld.

They finally make a right turn on the street and enter a more finely-cobbled-together road, the cobblestones look almost freshly-polished in comparison to the dingy stones that Kazdan has seen before. The buildings around here look less like scrap-metal walls and tin roofs and more like medieval stone townhouses. However, the houses are clearly supported with stone beams rather than traditional wood.

_I get this feeling that I just enter the district where the elites live if they can afford all of this stone. I mean their roofs are mostly wooden, but at least most of these houses look like they can withstand fire. I would imagine this city catches on fire probably like once a year if the shanty houses are anything to go by._ He cannot help but let out a gasp when they reach the center of the elite district.

“This is _Tartarus Theatre_.” She announces to him. _Tartarus Theatre_ is nearly a fourth the size of Chaor’s Castle, but it is only four stories high compared to the castle’s ten stories. The building is rectangular with several red-bricked chimneys jutting from its sides. The building is composed of pale-red bricks with black granite arches for the doorways. There’s also a staircase with peeling white paint on the left side of a building with its own little entrance booth.

“Wow!” Kazdan can only utter, while Nivenna muffles her snort. _Well……..she’s trying not to laugh at me. Then again, the only theater I’ve been to was the school auditorium and it’s not even a fourth of this size! Plus, I didn’t think………the dramatic arts would be a thing of the UnderWorld. Actually that would make a lot of sense. Considering how acting is a form of deception in itself._ Nivenna goes to the little room with Kazdan trailing behind her.

Nivenna pulls the rusted latch up and the door opens. They slip inside and climb the staircase, then they go through another door. This time Kazdan finally sees what an UnderWorld auditorium looks like. The stage, made of stone that might be obsidian, is big enough to host about seven Chaors with room for a Maxxor. The floor is made up of cobblestones but they have less claw marks and dirt sticking to them; there are about eleven rows of stone benches where the front three rows actually have red cushions on them, while the rest are left like naked slabs. On the sides of the walls are boxes with far more ornate and comfortable seats for the particularly wealthy; there are about three boxes with about six individual chairs for each box.

_I’m guessing the floor seats are the cheap seats and the boxes are pretty much for the wealthy merchants or Chaor’s elite warriors……I think box six might be Chaor’s if the massive-looking chair with a skinned………dragon rug is anything to go by._ Kazdan wants to be in Chaor’s box and sit in the very same seat that Chaor sat in if only to feel important like Chaor. But he knows very well that a mere human is never going to be allowed in Chaor’s box. _I couldn’t even get into his throneroom today._ He sighs inwardly.

“Wait here.” Nivenna orders briefly and heads backstage. It takes nearly 240 seconds for her to reappear onstage; she has two five-gallon, copper-rusted buckets with two metal poles that have afro-sized sponges attach to them. _I guess that’s the UnderWorld version of cleaning supplies, or maybe just mopping. Damn, she’s hauling those buckets without even breaking a sweat! I just feel out of breathe when I finish sweeping the kitchen. I need to work-out more._ Nivenna hands him a bucket, which he has to hold on with both his hands, and slips one of the poles on top of his bucket.

“You can pay me back by mopping up the left half of this room, while I take the right.” _That seems………cheap. I mean these Scanners are nearly worth more than a new IPhone! And she knows about the “teleportation” feature to the Scanners, so shouldn’t she be charging me with a king’s ransom to get it back?_ Kazdan is suspicious of Nivenna’s _charity_ , but decides to follow her orders. Again.

They do not speak while they clean the auditorium’s floor. And the stone benches. And the obsidian stage. By the end of it, Kazdan is certain that he’s got a year’s worth of workouts from the cleaning. But he did not complain and he mostly kept up with Nivenna’s pace, even though she finished about 446 seconds ahead of him.

“May…….I have my Scanner back?” Kazdan ventures to ask after Nivenna comes back from putting away the cleaning supplies. Nivenna then reaches behind her back and pulls out his Scanner from a hidden pocket. She does not immediately hand it back to him. And, this time, he sighs. _Of course, a couple of hours of cleaning isn’t going to earn back my Scanner._

“This was just the first half of what you owe me. The second half is to babysit that sickly babe all day tomorrow.” Kazdan blinks rapidly. _Okay…….that’s not bad. I mean she didn’t say I’m her slave or I have to watch the baby all the time like some sort of fairy-enslaved human nanny._

“Okay.” He promises unwaveringly. Nivenna tosses him his Scanner and he catches it without a fumble.

“Oh, and you should also know that being in debt to an UnderWorlder and welching on it ends with said UnderWorlder hunting you down and letting the kitchen mistress make a snack out of you for Lord Chaor.” She adds a small, cruel smile at the end exactly like the demonic elf that she is. Kazdan gulps and nods his head.

“Good, you shall meet me tomorrow where I found you. Or, rather, in about six hours from now. So don’t tally.” She waves him off, finally dismissing him from her presence. Kazdan finally presses the button to port back to Earth. He disappears in a stream of blue code. Nivenna sighs and begins her walk back to her apartments.

_The human left without giving me his name. I would say that’s typical of a human, but they may be the best for him. He’s like the pale babe; he will probably die before solon’s end. But that little display of anger from him might make him…useful to Lord Chaor. Only the Cothica can tell._

*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Comments- Here are the links:
> 
> This is the picture I used for my description of Nivenna, but I used more of her coloring from the show than the actual card, at least for this card before she becomes UnderWorld Commander, since she looks kind of younger, judging by the length of her hair, and it was obviously before the M’Arrillian Invasion: [Link](http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/chaotic/images/2/24/C-U_Nivenna.png/revision/latest?cb=20100118230858)
> 
> The townhouses that obviously belong to the artsy wealthy or upper-middle-class in UnderWorld City: [Link](http://www.tabletop-world.com/Images/Town-House/TownHouse.jpg)
> 
> The theatre that I based Tartarus Theater on: [Link](http://www.newyorkhauntedhouses.com/real-haunt-photo/m/cohoes-music-hall_458.jpg)
> 
> It has been……months since I last updated this story. And, to be honest, I believe this will be the only Chaotic story that you can expect updates for. And, unfortunately, without much consistency in when the updates will happen. This is not solely due to the fact that school has started again and I have to focus on writing essays. No, it is because my passion for Chaotic cooled, while my passion for Star Wars became a roaring fire that has yet to die down. If you’ve checked my page on any of my accounts dedicated to stories, you’ll notice that I’ve been writing Star Wars stories as of late. And, for that too, I have plenty of unfinished stories that I don’t see having a conclusion until maybe a decade from now or something. 
> 
> Anyways, I got back into writing for Chaotic, or at least this chapter, by finding out this interesting tidbit about a connection to Chaotic and Star Wars. Marc Thompson the voice actor for Chaor, Peyton, and Najarin (and plenty of other roles) performed the unabridged 20th Anniversary editions of the Thrawn trilogy audiobooks; I don’t know if it means that he voiced Thrawn, but I’m going to presume so until someone corrects me. I then started comparing Thrawn and Chaor for a while, and they have many, many differences, but they do have this one trait in common, other than not being human, is that no one knows the complete ins and outs of their mental processes. And I eventually returned to writing this chapter up. Does that mean I’m going to make Chaor like Thrawn? No, but I will make some allusions.


	5. Relax, The World's Not Ending

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was supposed to be a routine babysitting gig for Kazdan, or as routine as it gets for babysitting an UnderWorlder that may or may not be Chaor’s bastard, but it goes to shit. 
> 
> But at least, Kazdan meets Chaor.

Falias, Finias Chapter Four

****

Suggested Theme:

Main Theme- Loved By the Sun by Tangerine Dream

****

            Kazdan is dressed in what he normally wears whenever he has to babysit. He has on his graphic t-shirt with Joy Division’s _Closer_ album cover on it; he wears this shirt just to see if any of the parents recognize the band, but most just say what an interesting piece of art on his shirt. None ever realize the subliminal message he’s trying to send to the parents that leave their children behind for non-work related reasons. _Be close to your children; in their small worlds, you are all they have! Be their God!_ He wants to impart to them, but, like most adults, they do not get his message.

He also has on some broken-in jeans and his brown hiking boots. His entire outfit radiates _typical teenager_ to everyone on Earth. Here, in the UnderWorld, he’s not so sure. He knows that he’s probably just one of those annoying _humans_ who only want scans at the cost of some Creature’s time. Or, possibly, their life.

“Not me. I don’t want any scans, except maybe for Locations, Ultra Rare Creatures, and Chaor.” Kazdan mutters to himself as he’s walking to where he’s supposed to meet Nivenna. It’s early in the morning when the heat is not oppressive, but it still makes Kazdan’s shirt stick to him like a second skin.

“What are you muttering about?” Kazdan immediately jumps almost a foot forward and falls flat on his face.

“…..I expected you to be a screamer.” Nivenna dryly remarks. Kazdan quickly turns around and shoots her a dirty look. _I only scream when I want to._ Even when those bullies jumped him, he still refused to scream. He turns his head and glares at her.

“And I expected you not to be a teleporter, Nocturne.” He snaps back. Nivenna raises a thin, red eyebrow at him.

“You’re early.” _Is it an UnderWorld custom to be late? Because I did not know that._

“I prefer to be punctual.” He manages meekly. Nivenna frowns like she’s disappointed. _Odd, I thought Creatures prefer submissive humans._ He finally gets up.

Nivenna opens her mouth like she’s going to say something, but then closes it and begins to walk where they met for the first time. With Kazdan closely following behind her.

 _Ah, the radioactive puddle of piss is still there!_ Kazdan notes and is surprised he doesn’t see a dead rat floating in it. They reach the lamppost where they first met.

“Wait here.” Nivenna orders him and goes on ahead to Chaor’s Castle. Kazdan decides to spend his time by analyzing the lamppost.

_How did I not notice how crooked this thing is? I guess fear is truly the mind-killer. Anyways, it’s not powered by electricity or fire, but by some kind of white stone with black veins. So is the stone alive? Or does it only pulse with life at night? Or is this powered by Mugic of some kind? Or is it possibly a Creature—_

“It’s just a lamppost.” He hears Nivenna plainly say; this time he does not jump, but he still flinches. He turns to see Nivenna with the nameless baby in her arms and a red diaper bag slung over her right shoulder. The nameless baby is squinting his pupil-less blue eyes like the light of the morning is bothering him.

 _Considering how white this kid is, I have a feeling that the sun is his mortal enemy. And he’s dressed in a red onesie with blue buttons, Chaor’s colors. Force, is this kid really related to Chaor? Or his property? Wait, is slavery practiced here?_ Kazdan nearly sighs, knowing that those questions will remain unanswered today. Today, his only duty is to make sure that this nameless, sickly-looking babe makes it through the day.

“I was trying to figure how it functioned.” He expects her to sarcastically tell him that the lamppost is there to act as a light at night.

“You see the orb on top of the post? You see the hair thin black lines on the sides of it? Spores from the fairy fire fungi seep into those cracks and grow inside of the orb; the spores themselves are what give off the light at night. Ulmar says that the light really comes from this chemical reaction, but then his science-babble became too thick for me to decipher.” _Holy shit, I actually got a plausible explanation! Should I thank her? I mean that would seem weird; it’s not like I thank my teachers for learning something new every time. But I should say something._

“So was Ulmar the one who had the idea to use the orbs as lampposts?” Nivenna shakes her head.

“No, these lampposts have been around since before Gothos’s reign.” _Gothos? Isn’t there some Location named after him? Yes……Gothos Tower where Van Bloot likes to haunt! Or, rather, plot against Chaor._

“…………………Wow.” _I really need to learn how to continue a conversation properly. Or end it._ Kazdan mentally sighs at his poor social skills.

“Look at the lampposts all you want, but make sure that the kid is back at this spot by nightfall.” She hands off the babe first to him; the babe coos happily at him. Then, she hands him the bag, which he nearly drops from surprise. _Man, this is heavy! Did she put half the UnderWorld Arsenal in this bag?_

“The bag has his diapers, milk, raw ground meat, and some other stuff you might need. He typically eats the meat after he drank his milk. But he was just fed, so he won’t be hungry anytime soon. I also added some clean onesies in case he makes a mess and his blanket in case he gets cold.” Kazdan has to stop himself from rolling his eyes. _How can you get cold in this place? It’s literally Hell!_

“Anything else? Does he have any allergies? Or places we’re not allowed to go to?”

“No, he’s about as healthy as he can be. And use your commonsense and you’ll figure out where not to go. So have fun babysitting the finger-biter.” And like that Nivenna decides to leave them. Kazdan looks down at the baby and brings one of his fingers to the baby’s pale lips. The baby bites his finger automatically. It takes him a minute to pull his finger from the baby’s mouth; there are a dozen little teeth marks imprinted on his finger. There’s a little bit of blood welling from the marks, which the baby sees and reaches out for the bleeding finger.

“I’m really hoping I didn’t give you a taste for human flesh.”

*

Since Kazdan knows the city’s layout about as well as Chaor, he decides not to stray too far from the lamppost. _At most, I’m only going to be ten minutes, which is 600 seconds, from it. There’s no way I can get lost in ten minutes as long as I don’t go down the alleyways._ And Kazdan won’t even walk too closely to one considering what happened the last time on Earth, but he imagines it’ll be much worse here.

 _And I can’t let the little guy get hurt!_ Kazdan is certain that Chaor would hung, drawn, and quarter him if the ( _his_ ) baby gets even a scratch. The baby just stares up at his face with a little pout; he clearly wants to bite Kazdan’s finger again.

“I’ll let you bite my finger later.” He promises. The baby nods, making Kazdan pause mid-step.

“Can you understand me?” _I’m on another world and this baby isn’t human, so would it be impossible for this baby to be super-intelligent like Ulmar? Is that why he kept this baby? Aside from the possibility that this could be his—_

“You have been standing there for like a solid minute, looking at the baby. What, did the baby puke up Dractyl scales?” H’earring’s high-pitched voice grates on his ears. He sighs and turns to face the mutant rabbit.

“No, H’earring, and shouldn’t you be with your kitchen troll?” He says snippily. H’earring shrugs it off.

“Eh, she can wait. But you, I still owe you a tour!” Kazdan narrows his eyes suspiciously and clutches the baby tighter.

“Why? I gave you your bag of treats and I have nothing else to give you.”

“Because I’m a Creature of my word. I promised you a tour of UnderWorld City and you’ll get a tour.” There’s a bit of sweat forming on H’earring acid-green forehead. _He’s either nervous about something or the heat is getting to him._ Kazdan guesses.

“I’d like that, but, as you can see, I have a baby to care for.” The baby in question gurgles at him like he’s offended at being used as an excuse. _So is the baby super-smart, a telepath, or am I taking him too seriously?_

“Don’t worry, there’s plenty of _safe_ places to take a baby too. Like the Crypt of Eternal Echoes. It’s literally under us, so you won’t be far from your precious lamppost.” _How long has he been watching me? And why?_ Kazdan shakes his head at his own paranoia. It’s not like H’earring is going to beat him up and throw him into the garbage.

“I thought the sewer was under us.”

“It’s below that. So you won’t smell cooked poo at high noon in the crypt.” Kazdan’s nose twitches in disgust. _Ugh, I don’t want to smell raw sewage!_ The baby’s nose twitches like Kazdan’s.

“…………It’s safe?”

“Yes, it’s safe. Hardly anyone goes down there!” H’earring gives him a monkey grin. Kazdan can see his fangs.

“………………..Okay.” Kazdan concedes; the baby then mimics H’earring’s grin.

*

The Crypt of Eternal Echoes takes about twenty minutes to get to and it wasn’t through the sewers. It was through a debilitated shack that looks more like a crack den than an actual entrance to a secret Location. After a ten minute flight down some stone stairs, the little gang finally makes it inside the crypt.

“Welcome to the loudest echo chamber in Perim!” H’earring announces and his announcement is echoed a hundred times throughout the loudest echo chamber in Perim. Kazdan and the baby wince at the surprising loudness.

“H’earring, please, just whisper!” Kazdan whispers, which is echoed softly throughout the Location. _Wow, that’s pretty cool!_ The baby nods his head in agreement.

“Don’t worry, I will; I’m quite sensitive to loud noises.” H’earring raises one of his massive, floppy ears. Kazdan gives a light chuckle at his small joke. They continue to walk, and as they walk, Kazdan is fascinated with the material that the Location appeared to be made of.

The walls, ceilings, and floors are made of these yellow, rust-rimmed sheets of metal that have been bolted together to make this Location. None of the sheets were the same size and look more like a patch job.

 _I bet the metal must have some special sound property that allows the echoing. It also helps that this place is huge and practically empty, so sound waves can be reflected well here!_ Kazdan theorizes as H’earring leads him into a cavernous room with a large chandelier providing light for the room. The chandelier is mostly comprised of metals, most likely some kind of copper, with little flames flickering at the top. He nearly gulps when he sees that the bottom is made of spearheads.

“Believe me, that chandelier has been up since before I was born.” H’earring reassures him.

“So is this the heart of the Location?”

“Well, it’s one of the few bright spots, but there are more rooms scattered across this place. Getting to all of them would take a couple of days on foot.” Kazdan examines the room and notices it’s made of the same material as in the halls. _I get this feeling that this metal doesn’t exist anymore. They pretty much used all of it here!_

“You know you should scan this place; I bet this would help in your matches.” H’earring suggests, and Kazdan fumbles in his pockets to pull out his Scanner and scan the Location. The baby coos as he hears the Scanner’s unique sounds.

“Well, my first scan in Perim! I hope I get to do this again.” And he really means it.

“I gotta another Location in mind for ya and it’s more important than this place.” Kazdan’s mind races with possibilities of where they were going next. _Takinom’s Twisted Palace? The UnderWorld Arsenal? The UnderWorld Barracks? Maybe a secret room in Chaor’s palace? Oh, but I should do one thing before I go._

“Never has anyone seen me,

Never do I appear.

You will never see me,

And yet I am here.”

Kazdan whispers and happily listens to his hundreds of echoes. H’earring raises a curious brow at him.

“Where’d you learn that riddle from?”

“In the Palace of Deep Mystery.”

*

The Inferno Inn is the next Location that H’earring takes him too. And by the time that they reach the place, Kazdan is drenched in sweat and the baby is fussing in his arms. What H’earring failed to mention that the Inferno Inn was on the other side of the city, and since the city is almost the size of metropolis, it takes a couple of hours to get there.

 _For fuck’s sakes, someone needs to tell Chaor to order Ulmar to build cars already!_ Kazdan cussed quite frequently on the trek to the Inferno Inn. Of course, all of it was in his mind, but the baby would always look at him for every profanity that went through his head.

 _Then again, what else can the baby look at? The city is pretty much just scrap metal and third-world poverty! Fuck, I hope they have some clean water at this place._ He is tempted to drink some of the baby’s milk from the increasingly heavy bag.

The Inferno Inn is a one-story, cobblestone building with beams of blue-painted wood holding the building and the rusting, metal-shingled roof together. There are two boarded up windows at the front with a scraggly tree scratching the painted wood in front of the right window. There are spikes protruding from underneath the skeleton of the roof and painted wood. There is a sign hanging off of a black-hooked rod that is a painting of a roaring fire with no lettering.

They walk through the green-painted, stone-carved arch and into the Location.

Kazdan’s nose is assaulted with the scent of cooked, spiced meats and dead things. He has to stop himself from pinching his sinuses close; he does not want to insult the inn’s patrons. And he certainly doesn’t want to insult the reptilian, maroon-version of King Kong that is serving out logs of food. _Is he the owner or cook? Probably both, I almost want to scan him to find out his name, but I’d rather not risk his wrath._

There are a couple of small, square-planked tables that fit four Creatures and a couple of long tables that fit about six Creatures. There are two candlelit chandeliers and a fireplace to provide a decent amount of light in the room; he can see a devilish-looking Creature warming his hands by the fire.

“Go grab us a table; I’ll get the grub!” H’earring is gone before Kazdan has the chance to tell him not to order him anything. _Please, let him bring me back a bone with mold-less meat on it._ Kazdan pleads to the universe and looks for a table. All of the tables in the immediate vicinity are occupied, so he finds a small table at the very corner of the inn where it is right next to a hole in the wall with a tarp and some boards nailed across it.

 _Please, don’t let some Creature looking to chop up a human come out of the hole!_ He pleads once more to the universe. As he sits on the stool made of the same wooden planks as the rest of the tables, the baby whimpers. He looks down to see the baby sniffing and drooling from his thin mouth.

“Okay, time to feed you.” He balances the baby with one arm and hoist the bag onto the table with the other. He unlatches the bag and rummages for the milk bottle. As he rummages, he finds the source of the heaviness, a small purse filled with coins. _Oh, so Nivenna gave me some money to spend. For food? Or bribing us out of trouble? Probably the latter._

“Here’s the bottle and the…………food.” The bottle is not covered in spikes or bones like he thought it would be; instead, it’s just a glass bottle with a plastic nipple. And the milk isn’t blood or some gelatinous substance; it’s just white, liquid milk. The baby suckles happily on his bottle until half of it was gone; he then stopped sucking and pushed the bottle away. He then opens his mouth showing his two rows of sharp, pointy teeth.

“You are so well-trained!” He compliments and then gives the baby the raw meat he craves. The baby delightfully tears and chews the meat like a lion cub. He’s sloppy with blood and bits of gristle dribbling down his pale face. _Shit, they don’t have napkins here. Should I just use my hands or his blanket? Okay, not his blanket. I don’t think Chaor would appreciate blood on his actually impressively stitched face. Or maybe he would?_

“Good thing I had the foresight to get a bunch of napkins!” H’earring is back with a tray laden with some moldy carcass of some unidentifiable species, a bowl of a meaty stew with a grimy metal spoon, a stack of greasy napkins, and two metal cups of red liquid. Kazdan hopes the liquid is wine, even if he’s not into wine. Kazdan takes the bag off the table, letting H’earring set the stew and a cup before him.

“I didn’t really know what to order for you, since you’re human, so I went with something fairly digestible. Oh, you’re going to need to drink the wine; the stew is spicy!” _So it’ll be like the time I had Tom’s spicy Mexican nachos._ Kazdan remembers his ten-year-old-self clutching at his throat after one bite of Tom’s nachos and guzzling half a gallon of milk. Tom replaced the jalapenos with his dad’s ghost peppers. He really hopes that ghost peppers don’t exist in Perim.

His first bite of the stew is not like ghost pepper cheesy hell that Tom subjected him to; there is heat, enough to make his nose dribble, but he can eat it. The spiciness came from the broth, which also provided the heat, but the meat actually tasted salty and a bit sweet. _This is not what I was expecting; I could actually get used to eating something like this._ He then goes to take a sip from the wine and is amazed how creamy it tasted.

“I got us some weak wine because I can’t give a tour drunk and you don’t seem like a strong drinker.” _If it means drinking something that tastes like honeyed whip cream, then I’m going to remain weak!_ Kazdan gives a small chuckle to H’earring’s little joke. They resume their meals in silence, but the inn’s chatter filled the air. They take twenty minutes to finish their meals, and then Kazdan pulls out the heavy coin purse.

“Your meal is sixteen silvers, and a gold coin to tip the chef.” _Of course, H’earring wasn’t going to offer to pay the meal himself. Good thing Nivenna thought ahead._ Kazdan pulls out the coins from the purple, drawstring purse, each bearing the stern face of Chaor on one side and the UnderWorld symbol on the other, and hands it to H’earring. When H’earring comes back, he has his monkey grin plastered on his face, and it finally hits Kazdan why he’s so chipper.

“My meal didn’t actually cost that much. You used the rest to pay for yours.” Kazdan isn’t angry by that; in fact, he feels sheepish for not realizing what H’earring had in mind sooner.

“That and good wine isn’t cheap! Those babysitting the baby usually get some spare change, courtesy of Lord Chaor.” _That’s why you wanted to resume the tour. You sly, rabbit-eared bastard. And the baby must really be important to Chaor if he’s willing to give that much (it was a bag of mostly silvers with a few copper and gold coins) money to me!_ Kazdan is starting to believe that this baby might be Chaor’s.

“I do hope the next stop isn’t to some shop, so you can have a shopping spree.” _I am not wasting Chaor’s money on that. Unless they sell maps. Which I hope they do._ But H’earring shakes his head.

“Nah, need to work off the grub. And I doubt you know the fine art of haggling.” Kazdan nods.

“So where are we going next, H’earring?”

“Church.”

*

Kazdan presumes that the church H’earring will take him to would be the one that he passed on his first day in UnderWorld City, or at least he thought it was a church what with the stained glass window. _Churches typically have some kind of stained glass. Or at least the Catholic ones do. Tom’s church had some stained glass to make up for the boring sermon._ Kazdan went to church with Tom once because he was curious about how churches work, but he remembers being bored the entire time and just looking at the windows.

But when they pass the church, he realized that there probably is more than one church in this big city. He hopes that the church, which seems to require a lot of sketchy back alleys to reach, will be nice. _And I hope they don’t believe in human sacrifice!_

After a while, he begins to fantasize about the church they’re going to. _Maybe it’ll be gorgeous like those vacation commercials where these people go down these sketchy paths to reach a visual paradise. There’s got to be at least another beautiful building in this place other than Tartarus Theater._

His fantasy meets reality.

“This was built before Chaor even had a name.” H’earring espouses like a tour guide. Kazdan nearly gapes at the church. The church is a squat, brownstone building that has a gigantic hole in its dark roof. There is no stained glass art, but there were statues. The statues were gargoyles, hideous beasts that protected churches on Earth, but he doesn’t know if gargoyles hold the same meaning here.

 _None of them look like Chaor or Goliath. Hell, some look like imps on acid. None of them are beautiful like dad’s statues, but I can see them being scary at night._ He winces when he sees one badly sculpted statue that looks more like a wet cat turned into a Frankenstein monster.

“So does this Location have a special effect?” _Maybe you can control the gargoyles if you solve a puzzle, or maybe this only allows UnderWorld mugic here._

“Nope!” H’earring answers happily. Kazdan glares at him, but the mutant rabbit brushes it off with a shrug.

“Then the point of showing me this place is?” _Certainly not for aesthetics._ He grouses at the ugly statues.

“Well, it’s a good place to stash your stuff.” Kazdan scoffs at that. _I guess this is his extra storage unit for his gross ass treats!_ The baby shakes his head.

“And it has the right earth to grow my favorite kind of fungi!” H’earring licks his green lips, and Kazdan gags. H’earring walks towards the hole, for there was not even a tarp to protect the insides of the moldering chapel, and gestures for Kazdan to follow.

 _Should I really go? For all I know, the spores of his disgusting fungi could be like the Medusoid Mycelium and clog up the baby’s throat. Then again, why would H’earring bring us here if the fungi was hazardous?_ And then it dawns on him.

“You just wanted someone to help carry your fungi back to your place, am I right?” H’earring grins, and Kazdan sighs. _So much for honoring your deals……but he did treated me to a good lunch, which Chaor paid for, and showed me a cool Location. I guess I could do this for him; maybe, he’ll give me a discount._

“Fine.” H’earring’s grin widens and he gestures for Kazdan to follow him, and he does. The church isn’t beautiful on the inside, but it is far more interesting looking. There are four rows of stone benches about the length of his height if you add about five inches. Sadly, even the stone benches are thicker than him.

“I’m surprised no one stole the pews.” _Pretty certain that the stone would fetch a pretty price. At least on Earth._ He wonders if the UnderWorlders prize metal over stone, but he doubts that considering how stone is a poor conductor of heat and won’t melt like metal.

“Well, this is considered a sacred place to the locals. And it would be pretty hard to remain undetected while dragging those benches around.” _Sacred? So what kind of religion do they have here? Is Chaor divine? No, I think his card would’ve hinted at that. Maybe they worship a war god or a fire spirit, or maybe they have their own pantheon?_ For once, Kazdan actually wants to learn more about religion beyond superficial curiosity.

“So is your fungi sacred too?” _Only to him, I would imagine._ H’earring gives a small laugh at Kazdan’s dry delivery. The baby just stares ahead at a black and red door that is in better condition than the entire church. There is a slight crack in the middle of the door; he wonders if he could see anything through that crack.

“Yup, and it even has its own shrine.” H’earring heads over to the black and red door. Kazdan follows and watches H’earring yank the circular handle open. Since there is no glowing stone or candles, Kazdan has to rely on the natural light of the UnderWorld to see the fungi and even then he has to be at the door to actually see it. The fungi looks more like a wilting tulip with purple polka dots than any mushroom that Kazdan has seen. He’s surprised it doesn’t smell, but it is excreting green slime that looks like hot snot. He can count about forty of these slime-dripping fungi.

“Wait, is that a hole? Why is there a hole?” Kazdan notices a H’earring-sized hole only a foot into the fungi-shrine room.

“You see I was trying to make a tunnel from here to my house for easier access, but eventually I ran into hard stone that I couldn’t claw or bite through, so I just gave up. I was able to tunnel my way to Tartarus Theater.” Kazdan imagines H’earring as Bugs Bunny and just tunneling his way to wrong parts of the city. He nearly laughs out loud at that thought.

H’earring’s raises his right ear like a bat stretching his wing; his face goes from goofy to solemn.

“What is it?” Kazdan whispers softly. _Oh shit, some gang of Creatures robbed a bank and are coming here to hideout! Do Creatures even have banks? They have money, or at least the UnderWorld does. Focus!_ The baby scrunches up his face like he’s confused.

“We need to hide!” H’earring quickly ushers them into the small shrine and quickly shuts the door. The crack in the door is right below Kazdan’s eyes, so he crouches a bit and peers through the crack. He sees green-skinned Creatures with skulls masks coming into the church with crates of Pyroblasters. Kazdan sees the UnderWorld symbol stamped against them; he has a feeling those belonged to Chaor.

The thieves grunt as they carried in the weapons and bone-white spears with stone tips. H’earring yanks on his pants leg and gestures at the hole. _Shit, I won’t fit in there and neither will H’earring if he takes the baby with him! But I have my Scanner! Shit, I can’t leave the baby behind! What do I do!?_

“Stay. Quiet. I’ll get help.” H’earring whispers so softly that Kazdan can only hear him thanks to the lack of sound in the room. Even the baby is refusing to make a sound. Kazdan nods, and H’earring leaves through the hole.

 _Please, let H’earring get back soon!_ He pleads with the universe. He does not move himself away from the door because he wants to keep his eyes on the thieves. He’s trying to remain calm, so the baby won’t sense his distress and fuss, but he can’t keep his heart from beating loud enough in his ears to believe that he would get caught at any moment.

 _9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14…21, 22, 23!_ Kazdan counts the number of thieves in the church and his hopes for rescue die a little with each count. The baby remains silent.

For what feels like a year, Kazdan watches the thieves in hopes that H’earring returns with a squadron of UnderWorld guards. Miraculously, the baby only wriggles in his hold because he tightens it when one of the thieves gets a foot too close to the door.

“What’s that—” A thief begins when he hears the revving of an engine, and Kazdan’s heart leaps into his throat. Chaor, the UnderWorld Conqueror Warrior, stalks right into the church with a large, double-sided axe. He’s scowling at the thieves, who then scramble for the Pyroblasters, but Chaor is far quicker. He plants his axe right through the neck of a thief that spoke just a moment ago; the thief’s head is not completely severed from his shoulder, but hanging to the side with bits of sinew keeping it from falling to the floor. The near-stump of the neck begins to bleed thick, red blood.

Kazdan feels all the color drain from his face and becomes overwhelmingly dizzy. He backs away from the door, walks on the slimy fungi, and leans against the back wall. He passes out clutching the baby to his chest.

*

When Kazdan comes to, he’s on top of a stone bench and H’earring is by his side. He groggily sits up and notices the generous amount of slime coating his boots and gags when sees some red on the slime.

“I’m surprised you didn’t puke before passing out. You’re a little tougher than I thought.” H’earring calmly states. He sounds like someone trying to tame a wild animal.

“Did…Is the baby okay?” _I fucking fainted and for all I know I could’ve accidently suffocated the baby!_ Kazdan wretches violently at the thought of killing the baby.

“Yeah, Chaor took him back to the palace. He practically had to pry the pale babe from your arms!” Kazdan flushes a bright red. _Chaor touched me? Chaor the Ruler of the UnderWorld touched ME!!!? Er, he had to get his baby from danger!_

“………………Okay.” Kazdan meekly manages. H’earring quirks a bushy, red eyebrow.

“Are you sick? Because if you are, then please do it outside. I can’t stand people puking.” H’earring’s face turns a lighter shade of green like he’ll puke if Kazdan pukes.

“No……….I’m okay. It’s just……a lot to take in. And where are the……” Kazdan trails off because he did not want to say _corpses_. _Holy fuck, I’ve never seen a dead Creature before! Oh, but I don’t want to, not after barely-any-meat-left-to-his-neck-guy!_ Kazdan goes pale at the memory, but manages not to faint again.

“Oh, the guards came after Chaor……took care of the rebels and took the bodies to be incinerated and then came back for the stolen weapons.” Kazdan looks around and notices the pools of dried blood caking the stone floor. _Clearly, the guards aren’t paid enough to clean up this mess!_

“Well……….at least that’s over.” _I’m pretty certain I owe Nivenna nothing anymore._ Kazdan cannot even bring himself to smile at being out of her debt; he really wants to port back to Earth and possibly puke in his toilet.

“Yeah, and congratulations.” Kazdan tenses.

“Why? I’m pretty certain fainting doesn’t warrant a congratulations.”

“Chaor was…….. _impressed_ with how you cared for the baby, so you get to be the kid’s official caretaker.” It takes a full minute for Kazdan to process H’earring’s words. _I get to be his bastard’s nanny? But I’m a human!!! And I want to explore the rest of Perim!_

“But I’m human!”

“Chaor knows that, but he’s decided that you’ll take care of the baby from now on. Well at least, from the morning to the night. Six days out of the week. Plus, you get paid!” H’earring sounds excited at the last bit like earning money is the best thing in the world. _It might be for him since he lives in Sweeney Todd’s London!_

“………What happens if I refuse?” H’earring’s eyes widen like he’s shock by Kazdan’s suggested resistance.

“Chaor’ll remember that and you won’t be welcome in the UnderWorld.” Kazdan can tell that H’earring left out, _“He’ll also rip your head off with his bare hands and put it on a pike!”_ He sighs.

“When do I begin?”

“Tomorrow morning. Just come by at the back gate and the guards should let you in.”

“……………Anything else?”

“Yeah, you stepped all over my fungi.” H’earring does not glare at him, but he does frown at him.

“…………I’ll treat you to lunch when I get paid.” H’earring grins again, and Kazdan feels like he got scammed.

_At least, I got to meet Chaor today!_

*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Comments- You know if Chaotic wasn’t a cartoon aimed at kids, then it would logically be pretty violent. Because let’s face it, do you honestly think that Chaor hasn’t brutally killed rebels before? He literally rules the UnderWorld with an iron fist; leaders like that are characterized as being very violent individuals. Also, I’d imagine, because of Chaor’s temper and low-tolerance for rebel bullshit, Chaor tends to kill someone at least once a week. 
> 
> The fear is truly the mind-killer is an allusion to this: “Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past me I will turn to see fear’s path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.” Quote by Paul Atreides from Frank Herbert’s Dune. 
> 
> Also, that lamppost scene was inspired by season one’s episode eleven’s “Lord of Treachery.” The inspiration came from me really paying attention to the background details as H’earring was taking Kaz to meet Chaor the first time. The lamppost in that scene just add to the otherworldliness of Perim because the people working on the show clearly wanted to build the world. They even added rats scurrying about in that scene!
> 
> Crypt of Eternal Echoes is first shown in season two’s episode five’s “Rockwave and Roll.” Kaz is the one who groans and explains to Tom the problem with the Location; I figured that H’earring probably showed him that Location at some point in the past. So I decided to use that Location, but I did make up where it’s located because the show and the card do not tell me its exact location in UnderWorld City. 
> 
> The Inferno Inn is first shown in season two’s episode four’s “Colosseum Showdown.” From what I gleamed from the episode, it was Kaz’s first time being at the Location, so I figured that H’earring didn’t show Kaz the place on their (possible) original tour before the show started. Since my story is already going down the alternative universe hole, I decided to include this place in this chapter; you know to flesh it out a bit. I almost added a scene of Hammerdoom Chantcaller as an allusion to the episode, but I cut it out because I found it too coincidental. But don’t worry, he’ll appear. Eventually. I also used the Creature that told Rothar and Hammerdoom to take their fight to the UnderWorld Colosseum as the owner of the inn. I searched through the wiki and I could not found his name or if he actually owned the place, so I just went with it. I might give him a name. Eventually. 
> 
> The final Location of Kazdan’s tour of the UnderWorld is something I made up because I ran out of Locations for H’earring to take Kazdan to that was within the city limits. We didn’t really see many places in UnderWorld City, so I had to make up some places. 
> 
> This chapter is far longer than I intended, but it’s for world building. And I have further strayed from the canon path with making Kazdan a nanny to Chaor’s may or may not be son. However, I feel like Chaor did see potential in Kaz like even when they first met; sure, he used Kaz as a misinformed agent, but he did grin when Kaz left. And they kind of became friendlier over the course of the series. It probably helps that Kazdan didn’t spend his entire coin purse.
> 
> So, since Kazdan is now going to be nanny, next few chapters will be more UnderWorld world building with some Creature characterization thrown into the mix. I cannot wait to get to the chapter where Kitchen Troll Mistress teaches Kazdan how to haggle at the market! 
> 
> And thanks to those who have endured this long ass wait for another update; I hope to update much sooner!


	6. You're Okay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kazdan starts his first official day as a Caretaker for Chaor’s probable bastard son.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I planned for this chapter to be a chill one, but then I decided to have Cyrenox be involved.

Falias, Finias Chapter Five

*****

Suggested Theme:

Main Theme- Blue Magic by Kelly Hogan and Bill Taft

*****

            It is five in the morning when Kazdan’s alarm goes off. He ignores the impulse to chock his Scanner against the wall and groggily climbs down the ladder to his bed. He drags himself to his bathroom and does his morning routine. Fifteen minutes later, he stumbles to his closet; he looks from the right side of his closet where all of his _fashionable_ outfits are and then looks to the left where he sees the green shirts, tan pants, and hiking boots that his mom bought in bulk last year. He changes into the generic clothes and leaves his PJs on the floor. He then grabs his Scanner from his bunk bed and ports himself to Perim.

Kazdan then strips out of his generic clothes, puts his PJs back on, and crawls back under the covers. He shuts his tired eyes and tries to sleep.

*

Kazdan is surprised how full the Port Court is at this hour. Most of the tables are occupied by players his age and their soda cups. He doesn’t see many coffee cups. _I guess Chaotic uses the Universal time, so it’s like nine here if that’s the case._ A player with gravity-defying, indigo-black hair walks by him, their shoulders brush, and Kazdan smells the strong scent of coffee coming from the player.

 _Well, I have seen players eat here, so ordering coffee isn’t out of the question._ He slouches into a seat at an empty table and waves down for a bot to take his order. The bot stops before him and cocks its metal body to the side. He scrunches up his face in confusion; most of the bots don’t have this kind of personality.

“I see you’ve survived Perim, KidChaor.” He straightens up at the dry, almost English voice.

“IT’S YOU!” His sudden shout causes some players to turn and scoff at him. The bot merely tsks.

“Yes, it’s me. And considering how deep those bags under your eyes are, may I get you some coffee?” Kazdan nods tiredly at that. He watches the bot for a minute before it disappears behind a corner. A minute later the bot returns with a tray.

“Here is a Grande Chaor Cappuccino with sugar.” The bot lays the tray down, and Kazdan grabs his cappuccino and the sugar dispenser. He looks into the cappuccino and sees that the foam resembles a silhouette of Chaor’s massive head, which makes him smile. He takes a sip and is surprised by the amount of spice in the cappuccino. _It’s literally named Chaor Cappuccino; of course, it’s going to be spicy! Still it’s like someone took hot sauce and turned it into coffee._

“Thanks.” He pours in enough sugar to tame some of the spiciness. _Sugar and spice, and Chaor is not so nice!_ He hums as he nurses his drink. _Hey, wait, while I got the bot here, maybe I could get some answers to my questions!_  

“So does Chaotic have a bank? Because I got a job in the UnderWorld and I was wondering if I could store my money here.” _That’s just one question out of hundreds, but I can’t be here all day or else Chaor will roast my ass for missing work. Or get the cook to do it. So I’ll ask like three and then go._

“No, we do not have a bank and you can’t bring anything you got in Perim in here. Nor can you take anything out that you bring from Earth to here. I know that the Tribes have their own banking systems, but I doubt any Creature would allow a human to have an account. So I suggest finding a hiding place for your wealth. And don’t choose under a mattress; you’d be surprise how often they get thrown out.” _And I don’t know where I can store my money. Maybe I can get H’earring to hold it for me, but I bet he’ll charge me like a bank._

“Can I port Creatures around Perim with me?” _I would like to show the baby places that aren’t so……UnderWorldly, and I’d finally explore the rest of Perim!_

“No, none of you players can. You can port items from Perim around Perim, but, again, they cannot be ported here or back to Earth.” _I guess that’s out of the question, but maybe I can bring the baby gifts from other parts of Perim. If I ever get to explore beyond the UnderWorld._

“What happens if a player dies in Perim?” The bot pauses for half a second before answering.

“You won’t be able to come back to Chaotic, but your Earth-self will be fine. Unless you’re somehow killed on Earth at the same time.” _I get this feeling that a lot of players died in the early days of Chaotic, and the CodeMasters had to become more selective about who gets to have a code to get here, so there could be matches and an actual community here._ He tenses at thought of dying and never coming back here; he doesn’t want to be cut-off from this other world because he wasn’t smart enough to survive.

“Perim is not entirely survival of the fittest; it’s more about tact and commonsense. If you’re not sure what you’re about to say or do would piss-off a Creature, then don’t do it. Plenty of players have died for doing something obviously stupid. And you’re not stupid, KidChaor. You survived four days of this place with only losing your mop.” Kazdan relaxes at the bot’s assessment of him. _Pragmatism and silence shall keep me from dying! And I guess I won’t be getting that mop back…_

“Thank you……I better get going; I wasn’t exactly given a time for when work starts, but it never hurts to be early!” Kazdan puts his empty cup back on the tray and goes to port himself to UnderWorld City.

“He really needs to work on controlling his emotions. Humans get so sentimental.” The bot dryly comments before hearing the telltale scream of a new player. He lets out a robotic sigh.

*

Kazdan is tense when he reaches the back gate; it doesn’t help that the guards have extremely sharp-looking spears. _Their spears remind me of metal crab claws that could cut off my head in one snip._ He tries his best not to tremble.

“I-I’m h-here t-to—”

“Lord Chaor has ordered us to let you through.” The right guard, in a surprisingly feminine voice, says. Both guards move to open the gate for him and let him through. Kazdan walks with his eyes looking down on the cobblestone. _If I look back, will they look back? Will they think I’m a coward for believing that they’ll stab me in the back?_

But he does not look back to find out.

He makes it to the backdoor and knocks on it. Nobody answers. He knocks again. And nobody answers. He knocks one more time. Still nobody answers.

Then, he resorts to pounding on the door for a minute.

“STOP BANGING ON THE DAMN DOOR!” The kitchen mistress screams from the other side of the door, and he only has to wait another minute before she opens the door. The kitchen mistress’s large, meaty hands and apron is covered in fresh, bright blood.

“I-I’m here for the b-baby, Mistress.” He has no idea what her name is, so he goes for the deferential route.

“Oooh!” She purrs like a yowling alley cat. “I didn’t know you players could be so polite!”

“Not all of us, but my mother taught me some manners, Mistress.” She chuckles at his joke that was the expense of his own species. _But I’m telling the truth, Klayotic was such an asshole!_ His cheeks flare up when he remembers his humiliating defeat at the hands of the annoying Aussie. 

“Get in then.” She orders lightly; she even moves out of the way to let him in. Inside, he sees a skinned animal that has the body of a full-grown elk with the head of a cobra on top of it.

“Lord Chaor went out hunting around midnight for that little Terror.” _LITTLE? IT’S BIGGER THAN THE DAMN TABLE!_ And he had no idea that Chaor liked to hunt, but he feels like he should’ve known that.

“He usually likes butchering the Terrors himself, but he had to deal with Van Bloot.” _Bloot’s probably betraying him just like Starscream. Why would Chaor keep him around?_ But it is not his job to figure out Chaor; he has a baby to watch until nightfall. The kitchen mistress leads him beyond the kitchen doors, and he believes that maybe he’ll get to go upstairs. Maybe even pass by Chaor’s quarters.

“This is known as the Small Hall.” The Small Hall is about seven yards long; it has a red carpeted floor with gray cobblestone walls. _Am I getting a tour of Chaor’s Castle!?_ A huge smile cracks across his face.

“At the end of the hall, there are two doors. The left one goes into the Banquet Hall, while the right one is the Servants’ Hall. Unless I or Lord Chaor tell you otherwise, do not go through the left one.” And his hopes are dashed.

“Understood, Mistress.” He sighs.

“The first door you come across is the babe’s room and if you need the bathroom, there’s one at the very end of the hall. I’ve gotta finish butchering the Terror.” The kitchen mistress immediately leaves before Kazdan can ask any questions.

 _Well……at least she trusts I’m smart enough not to directly disobey Chaor’s orders._ He nearly pouts his way to the baby’s room.

*  

 _Huh, I expected it to be more……extravagant._ Kazdan thinks as he looks around the Spartan room. The room is a couple of square feet smaller than his and doesn’t even have a closet. There is a rhombus-shaped diaper changing station in the left corner of the room. It was not made of wood or stone, but metal as red as Chaor. Of course, the sharp corners have been smoothed so the baby wouldn’t try and touch the sharp corners from his gray bedding. But the baby wasn’t there.

The baby is in his cradle. The cradle is made of the same reddish metal as the changing table, but it’s far less interesting. It is just a crib with metal bars and gray bedding; there are no special flourishes or any other designs. There’s not even a mobile.

 _Then again, has the mobile been invented here? Baby mobiles are not even two centuries old on Earth, so maybe Creatures have yet to invent one. They still don’t have cars or TVs here, but they have magic known as Mugic. How come any place with magic is the technological equivalent of the Dark Ages?_ Kazdan thinks as he recalls the few fantasies he has read/watched.

“Mmm!” The baby lets out a soft cry for attention. Kazdan quickly goes over to the crib and sees the baby on his back in a black onesie with red buttons. His eyes slightly water when he gets a whiff of the baby.

“Ah, you need to be changed.” He quickly picks the baby up and goes to the changing table, and puts the baby down on the bedding. He goes through the drawers and finds a fresh cloth diaper, baby powder, and a jar of rags soaking in a greenish liquid. He unscrews the jar and smells a sharp scent reminiscent of aloe and antiseptic. He presumes it’s the Creature version of baby wipes.

He quickly goes to work and changes the baby into a fresh diaper. Once done, he puts the baby back in the crib and takes the soil diaper to the bathroom to be cleaned.

Five minutes later, he returns to the room.

 _You know I was kind of expecting something more…sinister to the bathroom, but it’s just a toilet, a sink, and a tub. Even the toilet paper looked harmless if coarse. I hope the Ogress doesn’t mind that I’ve hanged the diaper to dry by her……delicates._ He shudders in remembrance at seeing how frilly and huge her underwear was.

 _Her underwear could easily fit two of me!_ He nearly snorts and goes to pick up the baby. The baby touches his face, being surprisingly coordinated enough not to scratch him with his talons, and gives him a gargoyle-toothed smile.

 _Oh, he’s totally Chaor’s son! There’s no UnderWorlder that looks like a gargoyle! Well, that I know of._ He enters into a staring contest with the baby who refuses to blink his pupil-less blue eyes. Kazdan loses.

 _What can I do with him? I don’t see any books or toys around here, and I really don’t want to spend the entire day serenading him like last time._ Kazdan looks around the room and finally notices the diaper bag. He searches through it for something other than diapers and finds a book, but it is unfortunately written in Creature pictograms, a stone miniature of Chaor, and money.

 _Hmm, I could bribe H’earring for lunch and another tour of UnderWorld City to kill some time._ The baby smiles like he approves of this plan.

*

Kazdan and the baby leave Chaor’s Castle without much notice, save for the Ogress slipping some Terror meat in his bag for the baby. He remembers exactly where H’earring’s house is if only because it is one of the few places in which he feels confident that he won’t get killed there.

 _I don’t think I’d be killed at Inferno Inn as long as I pay and keep my mouth shut. And maybe Chaor’s Castle if only because Chaor doesn’t want to go through the hassle of finding another Caretaker. So that’s three out of like 100 Locations in the UnderWorld that I know of?_ He bets that the peaceable OverWorld has twice that.

He is exactly a minute away from his destination and so focused on his destination that he is about to pass an alleyway.

The baby begins to fuss like mad.

“Oh, what’s wrong—” From the shadows of the alleyway, a gauntlet colored like darkness and sharp digs into Kazdan’s thin shoulder. He automatically turns his head and feels a silent scream tear through his throat.

He sees a Creature looming above him clad in black armor lined with gold. His tattered red cape reaches the cobblestone ground like a curtain of blood. His helm has curled horns that remind Kazdan of the Horned King. And like the Horned King, Kazdan cannot exactly see the Creature’s face save for his glowing purple eyes and skeletal jaw.

 _OH FUCK—_ His panic is cut short when the Creature falls at his feet and he jumps back to make sure his feet don’t get crushed.

“What?” Kazdan manages to utter after spending a minute to get his heart to stop beating so hard. He looks down at the armored Creature and expects him to get up at any second. After half a minute, Kazdan concludes that the Creature must be out cold. Or dead.

 _Oh shit, what if he’s dead!? Should I get away from the body? No, no, he might be alive, but he looks like a giant shadow with some skeletal bits inhabiting armor! Can he even breathe!?_ Kazdan crouches down and shakily touches the back of the Creature’s helm. The helm feels warm like microwaved milk, but he’s not certain if that qualifies as a sign of life for Creatures.

 _I need to get H’earring; he can help me!_ He rushes to H’earring’s apartment with the baby clutched tightly to his chest. Seeing H’earring’s red door elicits such relief that he nearly tears up. He does not knock on the door, he pounds on it with one fist.

“H’EARRING! H’EARRINGH’EARRINGH’EARRING!!” He screams as he pounds on the door. It takes almost a minute, he can hear something crash like a pan onto tile, for H’earring to open the door.

“I CAN HEAR YOU!” H’earring screams back at him, and Kazdan’s ears rings just as badly as H’earring’s did. The baby does not cry from all the screaming, but looks curiously at H’earring.

“T-There’s a Creature in the alleyway; h-he’s I don’t know if he’s alive!” H’earring looks sharply at him and huffs.

“So there’s a dead Creature? Plenty of Creatures die in UnderWorld City!” Kazdan immediately shakes his head, while his stomach twists violently. Images of that Thief’s head barely hanging onto his neck flash through his mind.

 _No, no, you do NOT have the time to freak out at Creatures dying!_ Kazdan coughs to release some of the tension in his throat.

“T-The Creature was dressed in black armor and had glowing purple eyes with bone horns coming from his helmet!” H’earring’s sapphire pupils become smaller as though he was afraid.

“Take me to him now!” Kazdan runs and H’earring follows him all the way to the alley. The Creature is still face down on the cobblestone. H’earring immediately grabs onto the sides of the helmet and then lifts the helmet slightly up. There are no glowing purple eyes.

“I-Is he dead?” Kazdan hears his voice crack. _Pull it together, the baby’s doing better than you!_ The baby’s bright-blue eyes are looking at the Creature, waiting for something to happen.

“I don’t think he is,” _Oh, that’s encouraging!_ “But Cyrenox doesn’t look too good!”

“Is there a doctor around here!?” _They must have some kind of doctor here! With how warlike UnderWorlders are, doctors would be essential to this society._

“Yeah, but she’s at the Colosseum today!” _Fuck, how far are the barracks? Clearly far enough that a mutant rabbit and a scrawny teenager can’t haul this giant Creature over there!_ Kazdan quickly reaches into his bag and pulls out the coin bag.

“Here, use all of it if you have to!” He shoves the small bag into H’earring’s hand and the mutant-rabbit goes runs off, leaving Kazdan and the baby to watch over Cyrenox.

“Do you think he’s gonna die?” Kazdan asks the baby, not expecting an answer and trying to calm himself down. The baby looks at him and shakes his head.

*

It takes two hours and fifteen minutes for H’earring to arrive back with the doctor. Kazdan would check his Scanner constantly and hoped that any minute H’earring would appear. He spent most of the time keeping track of the time since the baby refused to be a bother. Every couple of minutes, he would touch Cyrenox’s armor to make sure it was still warm.

When H’earring finally arrives with the doctor, Kazdan restrains himself from gaping.

 _THAT’S THE DOCTOR?! SHE’S LITERALLY WEARING AN ARMOR BRA!_ He expected someone dressed in some kind of lab coat with a stenograph. Instead, she’s wearing a silver armor bra with a silver headpiece that holds back her long, black hair from her long, elven-tipped ears. She is a blue humanoid with jade green eyes and horse-hooves for feet.

“Move aside, human.” Kazdan does that without any hesitation. _Just because she’s wearing an armor bra, it doesn’t mean she won’t rip my head off!_

She kneels down and touches Cyrenox’s armor. For a minute, Kazdan expects her to pronounce that he’s been dead this entire time and it was a waste of time bringing her here.

She scowls and gets up.

“I-Is he—” She viciously stomps into Cyrenox’s armored back, while Kazdan and H’earring gape with horror.

“LYSSTA, WHAT IN THE COTHICA ARE YOU DOING!?” H’earring screams but does not move to stop her. She continues her rampage but replies.

“Cyrenox. Is. Drunk!” One last vicious stomp, hard enough to finally dent the armor, causes Cyrenox to lift up his head and groan.

“He can’t be drunk! I didn’t smell any ale on him!” _So there’s more than wine here._

“That’s because he makes his own blend of ale because he **_hates_** the sharp scent of regular ale. And last time I check, you aren’t drinking mates.” H’earring blushes and looks bashful at that piece of truth.

“…………Oh, where am I?” Cyrenox groans and tries to get up, but stumbles back onto the ground. Lyssta glares at him and looks at the dent as though she wanted to deepen it.

“In an alley, you lovesick drunk!” Cyrenox turns his helm at her. His glowing purple eyes are pinpricks in the darkness of his helm.

“……..Did Nivenna see me like this?” Lyssta rolls her eyes, while H’earring and Kazdan looked confusingly at each other.

“Obviously not, or else you would’ve impaled yourself with _Sorrow_.” Lyssta does not offer a hand to help Cyrenox get up. And without the helping hand, it takes Cyrenox a painful minute to manage himself upright.

“Where’s Doom?” Cyrenox’s _eyes_ become bigger as though they are coming into focus.

“Probably still at Inferno Inn. Presuming you didn’t ride him drunk over there and forgot to tie him up.” H’earring snickers, while Kazdan bites his bottom lip to hold his in. _I’m not an UnderWorlder or even a Creature, so I bet Cyrenox would take offense at that._

“………….Why is there a human here?” Kazdan pales, while the baby coos, drawing Cyrenox’s gaze to the baby and then back at Kazdan. Lyssta looks at Kazdan for a moment and then to H’earring, expecting an answer to why an UnderWorlder would hang out with a lowly human.

“He’s a Caretaker.” H’earring manages to answer before Kazdan can stutter out an answer. Lyssta’s face scrunches up like she’s smelled a dirty diaper, while Cyrenox looks back at the baby.

“Oh……..good luck, human.” Kazdan’s eyes widen. _Wait, did he say something nice to me? Holy Hell, I didn’t think he would be the type to say anything nice. Okay, well, I didn’t think he was the type to get drunk either._

“……………..Thanks.” Cyrenox nods and leaves the alleyway to go get Doom, while Lyssta grumbles under breath and leaves without paying any more attention to Kazdan and H’earring. Kazdan is tempted to scan Cyrenox, but he gets this distinct feeling that a hungover Creature is not going to have the best stats.

“………….What did you do with the money I gave you?” Kazdan asks.

“Paid Lyssta to get here and perform some medical mumbo jumbo.” Kazdan raises an eyebrow.

“And?” H’earring grins.

“I also paid off some tabs at certain establishments.” Kazdan frowns. “But, thanks to your generous kindness, I promise to be your guide……..for the UnderWorld.”

 _There goes the petty cash. And lunch at the Inferno Inn._ Kazdan sighs and knows that he’ll be making bagged lunches for the foreseeable future.   

He decides to return to the castle and spends the rest of the day in peace.

*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Comments- Here are the links: 
> 
> Here is an image of Cyrenox. His flavor text reads, “Born of Darkness, raised in gloom, wielder of sorrow, bringer of doom.” I took most of the text quite literally and Doom is the name of his skeletal steed on the card that I chose to use: [Link](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/chaotic/images/2/21/KA2.png/revision/latest?cb=20131125222944)
> 
> Here is an image of Lyssta. Her flavor text reads, “Only Chaor has a better win-loss record in the UnderWorld Colosseum…and Lyssta only has one loss.” She actually was in the show and got some speaking lines in the episodes of “Last Stand, Part 1 & 2” and “Legions of Aa’une”: [Link](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/chaotic/images/d/df/Lyssta.png/revision/latest?cb=20120615211539)
> 
> Originally, I was going to have this “whodunit” subplot about who poisoned Cyrenox and Kazdan being the one to solve it, but I cut out that idea since it would be inconceivable for Kazdan, a human who’s only been in Perim for a couple of days, to be trusted to be a detective. Also, I remembered that Kazdan is not eager to get himself killed for curiosity’s sake. But I was still able to incorporate Cyrenox and even Lyssta. 
> 
> I imagine that Lyssta doesn’t make her living off matches in the UnderWorld Colosseum since purple-ape-looking UnderWorlder and H’earring say the Colosseum is used for settling grudge matches, and I don’t ever recall money was on the line. Maybe through bets? Anyways, I figure Lyssta must have a side-job, when not doing jobs for Chaor, and I decided that she would be a kind of backdoor doctor, which I will get into how she got into the medical field. Because I have never seen a hospital in Perim, so I figure you either learn medicine through apprenticeships or trial and error. Guess which Lyssta is.
> 
> All the questions Kazdan asks the robot, which I need to give a name for at some point, are some of my questions I had for the show that never got to be answered. Or, possibly, would’ve never been answer since the show seem more content at showing the amazing world of Perim, instead getting into the nitty-gritty of the technology utilized in the show. Considering how curious Kaz was in the show when he knew such curiosity came at a shot of a big reward in the face of danger, I figured Kazdan would ask a couple of questions since it’s just him (I will get to Peyton, Tom, and Sarah, eventually) at this point. Of course, the answers that the bot gives are my speculative answers to those sorts of questions. God, I wish the show and card game kept going. 
> 
> Next chapter will be about Kazdan’s first day-off, so there will be a match (don’t hold your breath, I will not waste an entire chapter on a match, at least not this early in the story) and him finally exploring beyond the UnderWorld. Because even Kazdan needs a break from the OverWorld.


	7. Make A Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Kazdan’s first day-off and how does he spend it? By making a friend.

Falias, Finias Chapter Six

******

Suggested Theme:

Main Theme- Cry Little Sister by Gerard McMann  

******

            Kazdan Kalinkas wakes up at 8:34 AM on Sunday, June 28th. He tosses back his covers and climbs down the ladder to reach his desk were his Scanner is off. He quickly turns it on and sees that he has a notification from Chaotic.

“I have a Drome match scheduled with…PeytonicMaster.” He feels an itch on his mind, not for the player’s username but for the rules on matches.

 _I know you can forfeit a match in the online card game by simply clicking “No” when someone challenges you, but I don’t know what to do in Chaotic. I’m going to have to ask the bot the rules for matches in Chaotic because I distinctly remember not having a choice to refuse my first match._ He feels bitterness well up in his throat when he thinks about his disastrous first match with Klayotic.

He goes over to his closet and slides open the mirror-door to the right.

When his dad immigrated to America from Ireland, he had only the clothes in his trunk and ten dollars in his pocket.

The ones from the trunk are the only clothes of his dad to fit him; his dad went from a skinny teenager to a muscle-bound warrior by the time Kazdan was born.

_Post-punk asexual is what dad called his teenage style; he could afford to dress in studded leather jackets, more-belts-and-buttons-than-necessary-pants, and winkle pickers because he only had himself to support and his clients thought he was artistic chic._

Most of his dad’s clothes are black, minus the clothes in the tail end of his youth, and could easily cause him to die from a heatstroke if he was going into a desert.

But he’s not planning to go into Mipedian territory anytime soon.

_I could style my hair, but that would mean borrowing mom’s uber-expensive hair spray. The last time I did that was when Tom and I wanted to make our hair like Sora’s from Kingdom Hearts. We used the entire bottle, and my mom yelled at me for that. But I was ten, how was I supposed to know that her hairspray cost as much as groceries?_

He smiles at the old memory and gets dressed for Chaotic.

*

When Kazdan ports into the PortCourt, he theorized that either everyone will stare at him or they will straight up ignore him. He is expecting the latter.

And the latter mostly happens. Though he does get checked out by a red-eyed, brunette with a ponytail as he walks by her table.

It takes all of his willpower not to blush because he doesn’t want to ruin the dark mystique that his outfit gives off.

He is dressed in one of his dad’s more functional, Goth outfits. He has on a leather jacket with short, silver spikes on the cuffs and flared-out collar over his sleeveless black shirt. His shirt is tucked into his high-waist, black jeans, while the bottoms of the jeans are tucked into his winkle pickers.

His winkle pickers are short boots with long, pointed toes that has three silver buckles lashing against the leather.

His neck choker has a Celtic cross swaying like a clock’s pendulum.

His fiery hair is slicked back and half his face is hidden under black sunglasses.  

He walks with self-assured confidence that keeps the brunette’s lascivious gaze.

He takes a seat upstairs, far away from the ogling brunette, and raises a hand to get an attention of a bot.

“Are you going through one of those human midlife crises?” His eyes nearly bug out when he hears that familiar dry drawl.

“It’s you again!” He exclaims and the bot huffs like he’s rolling his eyes.

“Yes, I do have other duties than attending to the acute breakdowns of newbies.” _Like what? Getting drink orders?_ He cannot imagine this prim bot carrying a tray of Shimmark Shakes to a table of hooting players.

“Like answering questions of newbies. I have a few.” _I’m here for answers, not to be an ass to the bot._

“Go ahead.”

“I have a scheduled Drome match today. And I was wondering what would happen if I didn’t show up for the match?” The bot stares at him, or as much as he can tell, like he was an idiot.

“You would lose the match.” He rolls his eyes from beneath his sunglasses.

“Would I get kicked out of Chaotic if I didn’t show up for the scheduled matches?”

“No, you won’t be banned for doing that. Some players actually haven’t done a Drome match after their first match because they prefer exploration of Perim over the game. However, if you win seven Drome matches in a row in the same Drome, then you get challenged by the CodeMaster of that Drome.” _The bot sounds almost excitable at the end._ _I guess beating a CodeMaster is some kind of great honor?_

“What happens if I beat a CodeMaster?”

“Then, the CodeMaster will give you a scan from their Scanner that certainly no player has.” His brown eyes light up at the prospect of an Ultra Rare Location that he, and the CodeMaster, has access to. And he won’t have to spend hundreds of dollars on packs to get Ultra Rare cards.

“And I take it if I lose, then I have to go through the process again?” The bot nods, and he can hear the mechanical whirr of that nod.

“You mentioned that I won’t get banned for not playing any matches. How does a player get banned from Chaotic?”

“If you are found cheating during a Drome match, the CodeMaster can ban you. If you destroy Locations in Perim, then you will be banned. Those are the most common ways a player can be banned.” _I remember him saying I could die in Perim, but I won’t die on Earth. Which means a player can kill another player._ He feels a cold lump form in his throat.

“What….What happens if a player kills another player?” The bot pauses as though going through a thousand scenarios for the proper answer.

“That depends. If the victim had friends, then the friends can file a report to the CodeMasters and the CodeMasters will investigate and most likely ban the murderer.”   _If the victim had friends_ echoes across his mind like a scream in the Crypt of Eternal Echoes.  

“I would suggest that you make at least one friend while you’re here.” _Yeah, if I can hold onto them._ Tom flashes through his mind.

“I will take that under advisement.”

“If you’re going into the UnderWorld in _that_ , you’ll be another player that died from the elements.” He snorts and shakes his head at the bot.

“No, I’m going to Kiru City.” He waits for the bot to quip about how he’ll die.

“Wise choice. Kiru City has a bit of a cold front going through the Location, so you won’t die from the summer heat.” _I think I just got another compliment from him. I have a feeling that he doesn’t give those lightly._ He smothers down a cocky grin, not wanting to insult the bot.

“I didn’t know you could get weather updates on Perim here.”

“Most players don’t bother asking us anything aside from drinks or food.” He hears bitterness in the dry, robotic voice. _I have a feeling that this bot can rival HAL in the sophistication of his AI programming._

“They’re missing out.” _On so much sarcasm._ He could’ve added, but chose not to.

“Quite. You best enjoy your day-off while you still can; I doubt Chaor will give you another anytime soon.” Kazdan nods, knowing full well that Chaor isn’t the kind of Creature to be generous with breaks.

 _Unless he’s breaking necks. And as long as I keep my head down, I should be fine._ He grimaces, not quite believing he’ll ever be truly fine in Perim.

“Yeah, I’m heading off. Thanks for taking the time to help me again.” He almost reaches out with his hand for a cordial handshake, but remembers that this bot has better things to do than shake some human’s hand.

“It was my pleasure.” The bot then turns away, and Kazdan wonders if bots can blush.

Kazdan leaves and heads to the Transport Disc to port himself to Kiru City.

*

Kiru City looks nothing like UnderWorld City; the OverWorld is the Day, while the UnderWorld is the Night.

 _And Day it is._ He thinks as his sun glasses protects him from the sun that shines on the city like a beacon of hope.

He rolls his eyes from beneath his shades.

From the card, Kiru City is surrounded by an ancient wall with many battlements armed with sentinels. Inside, there are dozens upon dozens of white and brown stone houses, shops, and even some towers. However, Maxxor’s Palace juts out in the middle of the city like Pride Rock.

 _Looking around here, the actual Location is far bigger than the card led me to believe. And there are far more Grecian columns and Italian Renaissance domes than I thought there were going to be._ He also notes that the streets lack polluted puddles and mutant rats scurrying about.

 _The streets are clean minus some dust, so either Maxxor has a “no litter” law or he has a squadron of janitors under his employ. Probably the latter. However, this place might be more cluttered than the UnderWorld since all of the buildings are tightly packed against each other. Then again, I doubt the founder believed his city would grow this big._ Most of Earth’s great cities grew far beyond what the city planners had in mind originally.

He looks up at the palace and marvels at the illusion of closeness that it casts.

 _That’s like a two-hour-trek and I’m not even including how many godforsaken stairs I would need to climb up to reach the top. I doubt they’ll ever let a human near that holy place._ He looks around and sees some humans milling about in the stream of Creatures walking through the open plaza.

 _I guess those aren’t newbies if they aren’t scanning every Creature in the area. Or they could be like me and just want to sightsee, and maybe catch a scan later._ He watches as some of his fellow humans chat like they were all good friends.

 _Maybe I should go over and introduce myself, make a friend like the bot said._ He catches the eye of a green-eyed blonde; she raises an eyebrow at his _look_ and a guy with an afro whispers something in her ear. They both laugh under their breaths.

He frowns and walks away from them.

 _Maybe I’ll bump into someone like in the UnderWorld. Someone who won’t hurt my fragile ego._ He burns with indignation at his own sensitivity.

 _I’ve always hated when people laughed at me. Elementary was for my talk about the Otherworld. Middle school was for puberty, but everyone suffered from that. High school……I don’t know what._ He is not looking forward to PE because knowing his luck, he’ll get the bullies in that class.

 _I want to believe if I keep my mouth shut, then I won’t get picked on, but who knows? I thought keeping my head down would keep me safe in the UnderWorld. And then I wind up being a nanny for Chaor’s love child and watched a Creature be nearly beheaded._ His stomach squelches as he thinks about the head hanging on by a stringy gristle.

 _Ugh, I’m really glad I didn’t eat anything at the PortCourt. And where the Hell am I?_ He finally takes notice of his surroundings and finds himself in a “sketchy” part of the city.

 _I see a few broken windows and some houses boarded up. So is this a bad neighborhood? Compared to the UnderWorld at night, this neighborhood looks less scary._ Still he looks over his shoulder every now again and keeps away from alleyways.

Eventually, he chooses to stop at a small building with the only sign he sees for miles.

The sign is hanging from a pole much like _Inferno Inn’s_ , but the Creature pictograms look freshly painted in OverWorld blue. There’s a symbol that looks like a pinecone if it were made of blue velvet petals underneath the words.

 _Is it some kind of OverWorld flower? Maybe this place is an OverWorld version of a flower shop?_ He looks at the darkened windows and the tattered blue tarp acting as a door, and finds himself doubting that.

 _I am in a sketchy part of town, so maybe this is a bar or a drug den? Probably a bar since I don’t see someone as stalwart as Maxxor allowing drugs. And do drugs exist in Perim?_ He steps through the tarp.

Inside, is a bar with two Creatures and a small stage with a guitar leaning against the wall.

 _Wait, I think the bottom half is a Mugician’s Lyre! I guess Mugician’s Lyres are customizable._ He looks at the Creatures at the candlelit bar. Both the Creatures are green-skinned, but one has asparagus-green skin and is polishing empty glasses, while the other has lighter-colored skin and has purple-streaked, black hair. His face is buried into his arms like he’s sleeping.

“You better be here to buy a drink.” The bartender glares at him with dark yellow eyes. Kazdan shakes his head.

“Either play us a tune or get out.” The bartender brusquely delivers his ultimatum like he expects the human to cause trouble the longer he’s there.

Kazdan grits his teeth.

 _Why am I always looked down upon when I’ve done nothing wrong!?_ His mind flashes back to the blonde laughing at him, to the put-upon look of the Ogress, to being beaten up and left in a dumpster earlier this summer.

Anger licks at his mind like fire from a bonfire and has him stalking up onto the stage.

He pulls out his Scanner and searches for the one song to channel all of his anger in.

The drums and synth erupt from his Scanner like the herald of the Apocalypse.

_“Last fire will rise._

_Behind those eyes._

_Black House will rock._

_Blind boys don't lie!”_

_Lost Boys_ is his mom’s favorite movie and she played it a lot when he was a kid; he watched it enough time to know this infamous song forwards and backwards. He always found singing the song almost therapeutic since it requires him to suffuse anger and to pretty much scream his lungs out. Unfortunately, he doesn’t get to sing this song as often because of that.

_“Immortal fear._

_That voice so clear._

_Through broken walls._

_That scream I hear!”_

But it does make the Creatures look at him, and he has to stop himself from gaping when the Creature with purple highlights looks a lot like Maxxor. If Maxxor was going through a punk phase.

_“Cry little sister!_

_(Thou Shall Not Fall)_

_Come, come to your brother!_

_(Thou Shall Not Fly)_

_Un-chain me sister!_

_(Thou Shall Not See.)_

_Love is with your brother!_

_(Thou Shall Not Fade)”_

Maxxor’s probable bastard is grinning like a madman. Which causes Kazdan to grin too.

_“Blue masquerade._

_Strangers will come._

_When will they learn_

_This loneliness!_

_Temptation lead._

_Beats like a drum._

_Deep in your veins._

_I will not_

_Loves little sister!_

_(Thou Shall Not Fall)_

_Come, come to your brother!_

_(Thou Shall Not Fly)_

_Un-chain me sister!_

_(Thou Shall Not See)_

_Love is with your brother!_

_(Thou Shall Not Fade)”_

The organ music takes over for a minute, but it feels like an eternity of menace. Kazdan moves his fingers in the air, pretending that he’s playing the organ.

_“My Shangri-La._

_I can't forget._

_Why you were mine._

_I need you now!”_

_“Cry little sister_

_(Thou Shall Not Fall)_

_Cry, come to your brother!_

_(Thou Shall Not Fly [heay-yeah])_

_Un-chain me sister!_

_(Thou Shall Not Sleep)_

_Love is with your brother!_

_(Thou Shall Not Fear)_

_Cry little sister!_

_(Thou Shall Not Fall)_

_Come, come to your brother!_

_(Thou Shall Not Fly)_

_Un-chain me sister._

_(Thou Shall Not Feel)_

_Love is with your brother._

_(Thou Shall Not Fear)_

_Cry little sister!_

_(Thou Shall Not Fall)_

_(Thou Shall Not Fly)_

_(Thou Shall Not Hear)_

_(Thou Shall Not Fail)”_

Kazdan ends it with the cheesiest fist pump he has ever done, but he’s too caught up in his adrenaline at proving these to Creatures that he can be something other than annoying.

And then he gets yanked off the stage by Maxxor’s bastard son.

“You have to tell me about human music! Does it all sound like that? And I recognize the drum, but it sounded distorted and what was that screech in the middle!” Those are the only questions that Kazdan can catch since the Creature is speaking at a million miles a minute.

“There’s all kinds of human music.” Kazdan manages to offer the nameless Creature, trying to squirm out of the Creature’s grasp.

“Oh, sorry,” The Creature lets him go. “I don’t even know your name…”

“I’m Kazdan Kalinkas.” _Pretty certain going with KidChaor would result in a beating around these parts._

“I’m Accato, Maxxor’s cousin.” Accato stresses _cousin_ like he knows that Kazdan thought he was Maxxor’s kid. _I guess he gets that a lot, but he certainly doesn’t hold a grudge over it._

“Nice to meet you, Accato.” And he means it.

“You look thirsty; do you want a drink?” _I’ve had wine before, but that was in the UnderWorld and I don’t think they gave a shit about my age there. Maybe the OverWorld’s the exact opposite and Accato will get me clean water._ Kazdan nods, and then gets dragged to the bar.

“We’ll take two Blue Junipers!” Accato flashes a two silver coins with the OverWorld symbol on them.

“Coming right up.” The bartender sets to work on making the drinks. Kazdan wants to watch to see if the bartender will do something special like turn fire into liquid, but Accato takes his eyes and ears.

“So are your Scanners like Mugic and you can record your songs on them?” Kazdan mulls over how to explain ITunes to a Creature.

“First, the song I was singing earlier belonged to another human known as Gerard McMann and the people who helped wrote and produced it. I got that song from a store that sells recorded music and add it to my Scanner’s music library.” He pulls out his Scanner and toggles to his music library, and then hand his Scanner to Accato.

“Uh…..I don’t see anything except darkness.” _Oh, I guess Creatures can’t access my Scanner! I don’t know if the bot explained that to me when we first met._ Kazdan then takes his Scanner back and sees his music library. This time he flips it over for Accato to see the screen while the Scanner is still in Kazdan’s hands.

“Oh, now I can see it! There’s so many pictures of music in there!” Kazdan swears that a cartoon dog smelling a steak has less slobber than Accato.

“The pictures are album covers. Album covers are art for the music. Albums are compilations of songs by a musician or a band. A musician or a band are the ones who sing the songs.” Kazdan explains succinctly, almost acting as a depressant to Accato’s boundless energy.

“Are you a _musician_?” Accato at first was going to say Mugician, but was able to catch himself.

“No, I’m just—” Their drinks arrive with a clink on the dark bar wood. The Blue Junipers are in small glasses shaped like a gnarled branch with the sign’s symbol in the drink.

 _I guess the bar is named for the drink they serve._ He picks up his glass and takes his first experimental sip. He nearly gags at how sugary the drink is and the aftertaste of bitterness that hits him.

The bartender returns to polishing his glasses, not caring about the opinion of his patrons so long as he gets paid.

“I’m just a fan of certain musicians. I like singing.” _And that’s all I’m good at when it comes to making music. It’s not like I wouldn’t mind learning an instrument; it’s just I don’t have the patience for it._

“I like singing too and playing my customized lyre! It sounds almost like the lyre in your song, except it’s not as……electric.” _Probably because your lyre is more an acoustic guitar than an electric one._

“Well, the lyre is called a guitar…” And Kazdan spends the rest of his day off regaling Accato on his limited musical knowledge. When night comes, Accato had to hurry home to his folks, while Kazdan promises he’ll meet up with again next week. It is only when he has ported his code home that he realized something:

_I forgot to scan him!!!_

*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Comments- Here is the link.
> 
> Here is what inspired Kazdan’s outfit, except I tried to make it the male equivalent and a little more functional: [Link](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/25/e4/fd/25e4fd691ade8ba00b79380ea15f08f5.jpg)
> 
> The brunette with the ponytail that was checking out Kaz was Krystella because I think Krystella would find Kazdan handsome in his get-up. It probably helps that he’s confident and I think Krystella likes confidence. As much as vileness.
> 
> The blonde talking to the guy with an afro is actually Sarah. You see that’s a nod to her first appearance in the show, which was in “Welcome to Chaotic Part I,” where she was talking to a guy with an afro. Also, readers might construe Sarah as being needlessly mean; she’s actually more grounded to me. You see my dad and I like to watch people in malls when my mom and sister are on a shopping spree, and we tend to make fun of people and crack jokes about them because we can only look at our phones for so long.
> 
> About currency, I use very simple currency in this case because I don’t recall Creatures ever showing off their own form of currency unless it’s bartering or Mugic. And considering how the four Tribes speak perfect English, I’d figure they have the same currency in the sense that they use copper, silver, and gold. The difference between their currencies is the iconography. I feel like Chaor would plaster his face on all UnderWorld currency, while Maxxor would just continue with the tradition of using the OverWorld Tribe because he isn’t as “showy” as Chaor. I actually have some ideas for Mipedian currency that I hope to show off in another chapter or story. 
> 
> This is the second appearance that Accato has ever made in my stories along with the bar he frequents. I am going to do more with his character down the line because he’s just so fun to write and I kind of wished I wrote more for him in this, but this is going to be a very, very, very long story for me to write, so there is time for him. 
> 
> About Kazdan’s clothing in this chapter, I’m going to be fairly honest and state that I have always found Kaz in the show far more interesting to look at than Tom. Tom’s handsome and he has such baby blue eyes, but he just doesn’t pop as visually as Kaz does. Granted, the attraction mostly comes from Kaz’s hair and eye color and his face, but his clothes and hairstyle almost negates that attraction. I’m not into gravity-defying hair for the most part and all I could think about when I saw his hair was how many hours it must’ve taken him to get it perfectly gravity-defying. His mom pulls the look better off, but then again I love how deep red her hair is and how it seems more like a flame than Kaz’s. 
> 
> And then there’s Kaz’s clothes……..yeah, I’ve been into baggy clothes on guys, but I get why he was design with those clothes. I’m guessing that the creators of the show wanted a shorthand for the audience that Kaz was a “nerd” and instead of using the typical poindexter clothing, they gave him more stylized clothes with colors that do go with his hair and eyes, but made them baggy and functional. I guess Kaz likes his clothes to be functional; his clothes can get dirty or torn, and he wouldn’t care because they are cheap and he probably got them in bulk. I was also never really into Kaz’s pocketed vest, but it would be useful for storing things. 
> 
> Now, with this AU story, I have decided to give Kazdan a far different look that appeals to ME more. I have a thing for gothic fashion style and I feel like Kazdan could pull off the look, particularly since I have his hair down in this story. However, he’s not going to be so fashionable except on his days off and possibly at school whenever I get to that point.
> 
> Considering how we know very little of our quartet’s parents in the show, minus that one appearance of Mrs. Kalinkas, I endeavor to explore at least Kazdan’s parents. Because there’s really nothing on most of them except Mrs. Kalinkas, but we don’t even her first name, what kind of job she has, whether her husband is dead or she’s divorced, or any defining personality traits except she’s worried about her son’s sanity in “Earth to Kaz” episode like any loving parent would. And we know nothing about Kaz’s dad. So I’m going to take the opportunity to write about them gradually. 
> 
> Next chapter, we’re getting back to Kazdan’s babysitting gig and more UnderWorld exploration. And, perhaps, a glimpse of Chaor. Hopefully, I’ll update monthly instead of every couple of months, but I’m in college so I can’t exactly promise that. Especially when most of these chapters tend to be about ten pages or longer.
> 
> PS: Thank you, Elememtal1000 of FF, for catching my flub about how many matches are needed to win!


	8. Culture Yourself

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kazdan goes to the market and attends a play.

Falias, Finias Chapter Seven

*******

Suggested Theme: 

Main Theme- Lark by Au Revoir Simone

*******

            After his day in the OverWorld, Kazdan is back in the UnderWorld in his unremarkable but functional attire. In the wee hours of the dingy UnderWorld morning, he mulls about his day in the OverWorld.

 _I need to return to Kiru City to get that scan of Accato. And I need to figure out if I can bring an old CD player with burned disks into Perim. I brought in my mop that one time, so maybe the same can happen with the CD player. And if it isn’t, maybe I can rent one because I saw some players renting camping equipment last Tuesday._ He passes by the guards without any fanfare, but he does spare a backwards glance at them.

 _I wonder if Chaor would sic them on me for hanging out with Maxxor’s cousin._ He stops mid-step and feels himself break into a cold sweat.

 _Chaor is the Supreme Ruler of the UnderWorld; he probably has spies in Kiru City! OH SHIT, WHAT IF CHAOR THINKS I’M A TRAITOR!?_ He begins to shake and looks back once more.

The guards have not moved from their post.

 _Calm down! If Chaor thought you were a traitor, he would’ve killed you before you even made it past the gate!_ He resumes his walk to the back door. He bangs on the door as he normally does and the Ogress opens the door after only one knock.

“There ya are! The babe’s been fussing for you since yesterday!” Kazdan’s eyes widen at her statement.

 _Usually, babies are happy with their parents……oh, right, he doesn’t really have any. I bet he went through a rotation of babysitters who didn’t really give a wit about him. And then I come along, pouring as much worried love into him._ Guilt wells up inside him because, even though his mom spends most of the year away from him, she tries hard to make up for that. Like calling him every day to see how he’s doing when she’s gone; and when she’s home, they have movie marathons together.

“I’m sorry.” He mumbles, but the Ogress leaves without hearing a word of it. She comes back with the pale babe. This time he’s dressed in a black onesie. The babe reaches out to him like he’s a shiny toy.

 _But he doesn’t have any shiny toys! All of his toys are made of wood or stone._ The babe would chew on the wooden ones, leaving little teeth marks, but the stone ones have scratch marks because of his claws.

He takes the baby who coos contently.

“Was he sick?” _She always complains how sickly he was, but I never heard a cough or a sniffle from him. Maybe Creatures get sick in different ways._

“Nah, he’s just getting stubborn.” _Like his father._

“That’s good, it takes a lot of energy to be stubborn.” He jokes, and the Ogress gives him a piggish snort.

“It’s not from the air that’s for sure. Since you’re here, when you go out, you’ll have to come to me for money.” _Has Chaor decided that it’s pointless to pay a human when said human can’t even use a bank here?_

“Why?”

“You spent your entire allowance in a day.” _Right, nearly forgot about the Cyrenox incident._

“I didn’t spend it on myself; I spent it on saving an UnderWorlder’s life.” He phrases so nobly. The Ogress rolls her beady eyes.  

“You ‘saved’ Cyrenox who didn’t need saving in the first place.”

“How was I supposed to know that?” He snaps, loathing how the Ogress expected him to know that. Like a teacher expecting him to know what an iambic pentameter is.

“He was _born of darkness and raised in gloom_ , not much can kill him.”

“Except Nivenna and booze, apparently.” He gets a peal of laughter from the Ogress that sounds like a warthog yowling.

“Cothica help him if she ever looks his way!” _So Nivenna doesn’t know? And how long has Cyrenox been in love with her? And is that legal? I guess so if he hasn’t been jailed by now. How do ages work here? I know about ‘solon,’ but I don’t know what that is exactly. Maybe the bot knows since he did tell me about the banks in Perim._  

“You’ve been staring into the Pits for a solid minute now.” The Ogress announces, causing Kazdan to flush in embarrassment. The baby merely stares at him.

“Oh? I was just wondering……if H’earring is available today!” He quickly says like he’s been called on to answer a question that he did not hear.

“He should be. I don’t recall Lord Chaor callin’ him in this mornin’ and he hasn’t paid me any visits.” She shivers from a lustful memory. He has to use all of his willpower not to gag. The baby gurgles like he’s about to puke.

“Great, I was going to spend the day with him, which means I’ll probably have to pay for lunch.” The Ogress rolls her eyes and pops back into her kitchen to get a small purse.

“Baby’s been changed and fed before you got here, so he shouldn’t cause any trouble for a spell. Try not to let H’earring to get you to pay his tabs again!” He takes the drawstring purse and stuffs it into the front pocket of his baggy pants.

“I won’t!” He insists, but the Ogress gives a tsk like she’s waiting for proof. She then moseys back in and closes the door.

“Will I ever meet a Creature that’s completely confident in me?” He sighs to the baby. The baby peers at him with his pupil-less blue eyes.

*

Kazdan finds his way to H’earring’s home and wants to pat himself on the back for doing it from memory. But the baby in his arms flares his nostrils in warning that he would throw the biggest fit in his life if he’s put on the dirty cobblestone road.

“Too good for your first steps to be in the gutters?” The baby smiles cryptically; his blue eyes filled with an intelligence that no human baby could hope to possess. He knocks on H’earring’s door. H’earring opens it and there’s a basket hanging off one stubby arm.

“I didn’t expect you today.” H’earring sheepishly admits.

“Well, I don’t have your number, so it’s not like I could’ve called you up.” H’earring’s squints his eyes and frowns like he’s trying to understand another language.

“It was….a joke. So where are you going?” _Please, not a surprise rendezvous with the Ogress!_

“To the market.” H’earring says slowly like that it should’ve been obvious to him.

“Oh….can we come with?” Kazdan turns the baby’s face towards the mutant-rabbit, hoping that the baby’s cute face will convince him.

 _Wait, would the baby be cute to him? If he finds the Ogress hot, then this baby could be repulsive!_ The baby squirms like he doesn’t want to be found wanting.

“……..I guess, but don’t expect any excitement. Unless someone is stupid enough to steal from the butcher again.” H’earring shakes his head at the memory. Kazdan follows in tow with the baby looking at him again.

*

It takes ten minutes of walking through the narrow streets before the trio reach the market. Kazdan sees stalls, most of the made from scrap metal, manned by Creatures yelling at other Creatures over their wares. Most of the wares he sees are BattleGear.

“Since you did help me pay off my debts, I’m going to give you a piece of advice that most Creatures wouldn’t bother to give you players. If you scan any of the BattleGear here, you will have to pay for it. Merchants hate being robbed of their price gouging more than they hate humans.” _I should’ve figured that!_ Nonetheless, his excitement fizzles out.

“Okay, hypothetically, what happens if I can’t pay?”

“Then, you have to work it off.” _Like in a Dickensian work-house?_ It was the only thing he took away from his 8th grade Literature class.

“Like a slave?”

“In a sense. You still get to back to your home at the end of the day or night, depends on who you owe money too, unless you offered up your home as payment. But most homes aren’t worth that much.”

“So does slavery exist here?”

“Not as much as it during the Ancient times. Mass slavery just isn’t profitable anymore because it causes revolts and revolts cost the merchants money.” _Sounds kind of like what happened on Earth where slavery has supposedly been eradicated, but you always hear about human trafficking._

“So it’s now small-scale slavery?”

“Legally, slavery is illegal. During the Ancient times, Kaal broke a promise to this UnderWorlder who then led the greatest revolt in UnderWorld history, kicked out Kaal, and became the Supreme Ruler of the UnderWorld.” H’earring takes a dramatic pause, but Kazdan can easily guess the rest. _And his descendants became worse with every generation until they were overthrown._

“And he then established two laws. First, slavery is forever illegal. Second, his heirs will rule the UnderWorld. The first one was mostly kept, but the second one got broken when Gothos slaughtered the last heir to the throne and took over. Well, until Lord Chaor conquered the UnderWorld.” _And he’ll rule so long as his wisdom is on par with his strength._ The baby smiles, showing his sharp little teeth.

“What was the Creature’s name that liberated the UnderWorld?” H’earring pulls at his scraggly red goatee thoughtfully.

“I don’t know because the Troubadours never mentioned his name. Probably because it wasn’t eloquent enough for their pretty songs.” Kazdan opens his mouth to ask a slew of questions.

“How about I teach you something that matters? Like the secret to haggling.” _I’d rather have my historical questions answered. Like when was the Ancient times? Who was Kaal? Was it just the UnderWorlders being enslaved? What’s a Troubadour?_

“I’m not going to answer all of your _scholarly_ questions; that’s what schools are for.” Kazdan opens his mouth to ask. “And, no, they won’t accept humans.”

“…………What’s the secret to haggling, H’earring?” He bites, accepting that he won’t get what he wants. The baby begins to pout like he’s been robbed of a toy.

“As you can hear, one form is yelling. It is the most common technique, but not the most efficient.” H’earring walks past the BattleGear, and Kazdan follows.

“What is the most efficient?” H’earring does not answer. They go to the next street where the wares have been exchanged for perishables such as food and flowers. Kazdan can still hear some Creatures screaming at each other as they pass by. They reach the middle of the street where there are several butcher stalls. Most of the meat on display are black with rot or fuzzy with green; some are both.

 _I think I see like maybe two slices of meat that looks remotely clean. Are UnderWorlders immune to salmonella?_ His face twists like he’s about retch, but he manages to swallow his bile down. The baby wrinkles his nose in disgust.

H’earring approaches a stall that contains nothing but black and green meat. The butcher, a Creature as big as the Ogress if she was more muscle and spikes than fat, approaches the counter with a massive cleaver in one hand, which causes Kazdan’s throat to go dry.

“Kughar, how have you been?” H’earring smiles like a charming monkey, while Kughar narrows his red eyes in suspicion.

“Too busy for _small_ talk.” Kughar grunts and tightens his grip on the cleaver.

“Oh, I thought it was because you were too busy stoking the fires with Dardemus while Chargola was away on his mission.” Kazdan does not what _stoking the fires_ means, but the way Kughar’s beady red eyes nearly pop out of his head, has him believing it is something shocking.

“………What do you want?” H’earring smiles with his eyes on the prize.

“Two pounds of that gorgon flank, please.” Kughar grabs the meat, wraps it up, and tosses the meat on the counter before storming off to the back. H’earring grabs his meat and continues his walk down the street.

“So the secret is blackmail?” H’earring nods like a sage.

“Yes, it is the most efficient when you have dirt on someone that’s wanting to be clean. But Kughar has never been truly clean or faithful.” _Ah, infidelity! Wait, does that mean this “Dardemus” is Kughar’s mistress? And who is Chargola? I don’t have his card, but maybe I can scan him later._

“But how did you get the blackmail?” H’earring lifts up one ear, and Kazdan feels like smacking himself for the obvious.

“I have big ears and Creatures have big mouths.”

“But what if you’re a bad listener?”

“Then, you need to be resourceful.” His eyes flick over to the baby.

 _I sincerely doubt showing a baby to Kughar will get me anything._ H’earring gestures for Kazdan to follow him. He follows and they walk for five minutes passing by stalls selling moldy vegetables and red lumps that smell a lot like burnt bread. H’earring stops almost three feet from a section of flowers.

 _Well, I think they’re flowers. They have petals like flowers, but they’re all dried out from the heat of the UnderWorld in the morning. Some of them have “tongues” wagging for water!_ _Do they steal those flowers from the OverWorld, or are all UnderWorld flowers naturally like that?_ H’earring tugs on one of his pants legs.

“Another secret to haggling is practice, and what better practice than on the florists. Most florists are weak in the scales for babies because they’re like flowers. Delicate and fleeting. So go up to one of them and buy a bouquet of white albus.” Kazdan narrows his eyes like Kughar.

“Let me guess, the flowers are for your lover? A lover who only gave me enough money for lunch.” H’earring gives him the monkey smile.

“The flowers won’t eat up your entire lunch after you haggle!” Kazdan scowls at H’earring’s cheeriness.

“Look, if you somehow fail, then I’ll pay for your lunch.” Kazdan raises an eyebrow. “Dairus really _loves_ white albus!”

“Fine.” He finally agrees and chooses the least intimidating-looking florist. The florist he has chosen is a bi-pedal shark with three eyes. The other florists look like a duck dinosaur that could eat him in one bite, while another looks like a Scottish Maxxor with an emerald face-tattoo.   

 _The shark is almost as short as I am, while the other two could stomp on me!_ But he still pales before his choice, feeling his blood go into his feet. He looks down at the baby who reaches to touch the point of his chin.

 _Don’t be a coward in front of the baby!_ He puffs out his chest and strides his way to the shark florist. The shark’s three eyes widen at him like he’s seen Chaor.

 _It can’t be me; there’s something terrifying behind me, isn’t there?_ Kazdan refuses to look back, even when the shark begins to shake.

He gets tapped on the shoulder by a sharp claw.

 _Shit!_ He turns around and sees Cyrenox.

“Cyrenox………glad to see you’re fine!” He manages while smiling awkwardly.

“Thank you. Are you here for flowers?” Cyrenox manages without an awkward smile.

“Yes…..are you?”

“…….Maybe.” The glowing eyes in Cyrenox’s helmet look down into a corner of his helmet. Kazdan can guess who would be the recipient of his flowers.

“…………Do you want me to get out of the way?”

“No, no, I actually have something to give you.” He watches as one of Cyrenox’s black-metal, talon hands gropes around his back to grab something in his back purse. He pulls out several slivers of paper that remind Kazdan of cartoon lotto tickets.

“I can’t read.” Kazdan admits after squinting his eyes in hopes that would decipher the Creature scrawl.

“Oh…..these are tickets for today’s day plays.” He hands the tickets to Kazdan.

“Thank you.” _I don’t know what a day play is or even if I’d be allowed to attend it._

“………See ya.” Cyrenox leaves without buying a single flower. Kazdan stuffs the ticket into a front pocket and then turns around to see the shark standing scared stiff. 

“I’d like a bouquet of white albus, please!”

*

The white albus reminds Kazdan of a squid; its white petals curl up like tentacles about to snap through water. The baby is holding the small bouquet and stroking the petals with the fleshy part of his claw-tipped hands.

 _Usually, a baby would try to put the flowers into his mouth. Yet, he’s calmly stroking it like a cat. He’s so mature for a baby. But is he a baby? He has all his teeth and eats raw meat. But he hasn’t talked or walked yet. Is that just how baby Creatures develop?_ He looks at the baby for an answer, while the baby looks at him also expecting an answer.

“I see you got the flowers, and any reason Cyrenox was there?”

“I thought you were a great listener.”

“I am when my stomach isn’t screaming at me.” He reaches up for the flowers, and Kazdan gently pries them from the baby’s curious grip. The baby manages to save one for himself.

“I think he was there to get Nivenna some, but he….decided not to and gave me tickets to today’s day plays.” H’earring groans loudly like he’s bust an eardrum. “I take it they’re bad.”

“They are, even if you’re into theater. Especially the day plays!”

“Why?” _If they’re anything like middle school plays, then I completely understand._

“Typically, they don’t have the budget or talent of the operas and night dramas.”

“So you have no desire to take a pair and go on a romantic date with Darius?” Kazdan looks down at the baby to prevent himself from thinking too hard what would happen after the date.

“Pits no! She wouldn’t go unless Melinoë came back from the dead.” Kazdan opens his mouth to ask, but H’earring knows him well. “She was the best playwright and actress that Tartarus Theatre ever had.”

“…..I’m still going to go to the day plays.” H’earring sighs like he’s accepted defeat.

“Just remember to get the baby bag before you go; day plays run until darkness falls.”

*

The usher at the doors of Tartarus Theatre, a hog-looking Creature shorter than H’earring and a squalid shade of blue, examines the two tickets for a second and then moves for Kazdan and the baby to enter without much fuss.

 _I bet he would’ve taken an hour if this was an opera._ He thinks as he enters the lobby; the lobby has black marble-like floors with black columns reminiscent of the columns from the OverWorld. He sees no concessions stand selling popcorn or drinks, but just a wide hallway lit by glowing stones in the torches.

 _This is gothic beauty, but where is everyone? I don’t even see a guard around here! Are day plays so unpopular that the theater owner doesn’t bother to hire security during the day?_ He sees a stone staircase spiraling upwards at the end of the hall.

 _I doubt my tickets afford me box seats._ He walks towards the staircase, figuring that the doors to the auditorium must be near there. He finds twin red doors with iron hoops for doorknobs. The doors are made of wood that remind him of cheap pine board that he used for science projects. He uses one hand to pull on a hoop, opens a door slightly, and slips inside.

The stage is pitch-black, but he can hear the scratches of claws and sets moving around. He looks for a seat and is not surprised to see how unfilled the rows are. There is only one Creature sitting right in the middle, even though he could’ve easily gone to the cushioned rows and no one would know.

 _I can only see the back of the Creature’s head, but he has red and blue skin with purple armor. If I had to take a guess, it has to be Illazar since he’s the only brightly-colored UnderWorlder I can think of. But Illazar doesn’t seem like a Creature…refined enough for theater._ He freezes in place when Illazar suddenly swings his head around. The colorful UnderWorlder locks eyes with him.

 _Shit! Do I just leave? He’s not glaring at me; it’s more like he’s confused to why I’m here. Probably because he didn’t think a human would ever be in such a place._ He nearly rolls his eyes at that. Illazar waves at him to come over.

 _If I ignore him, he’ll probably kick my ass for being disrespectful._ He silently sighs and forces himself to Illazar’s row.

“Is this the babe’s first play?” Illazar asks almost like a friend asking about his day.

“Y-Yes.”

“Have you ever been to a day play?” Kazdan shakes his head, still shocked by how _friendly_ Illazar is.

“With day plays, you kind of need a guide because they can be quite….confusing for newcomers.”

“Y-Yeah, I’ve never been to a real theater before.”

“Good thing you’re starting with a day play because the night ones are very……keen on formal dress.” The baby giggles at that, and Kazdan wonders again of the baby’s true age.

“So when is it supposed to start?” Kazdan takes a seat on the bench with about a foot of space between him and Illazar.

“When you can see the stage.” Kazdan frowns. “See the darkness is lightening.”

 _I can’t tell; black is black to me. Oh, wait, I think I see some shapes moving._ It takes a minute before the darkness dissipates and reveals a set that looks painted by kindergarteners. The background set has a childish rendition of a stone hut with a field of crops; the crops are sickly trees with a giant red fruit hanging off of the one-branched trees.

 _I’m guessing they couldn’t afford a decent artist and had to use the director’s kid to do this._ The baby mirrors his dread in a moan.

Five Creatures looking like a cross between plague victims and trolls enter from stage right. They stand in front of the stone house like a family: two of the Creatures have white dreads and are hunched like an elderly couple with two young Creatures tugging at the couple’s robes, and then there’s a teenaged Creature standing proudly like a hero in front of them.

 _I bet his goal is to save the family’s farm._ The hero speaks, and Kazdan scrunches up his face in confusion for it is not English being spoken.

“They’re speaking in the Ancient Tongue, so it’s not set in the present.” Illazar kindly informs him. _The Ancient Tongue doesn’t sound like Shakespeare, more like Tolkien Orc._

The hero monologues, most likely stating how he’ll improve his family’s fortunes, and then waves bye to his family. His family leaves, and the hero walks. The set changes like someone in the back is pedaling with a rusty bike chain; the poor farmhouse is replaced with a field of blacken trees. The hero walks for half a minute and then stops when an organ’s screams fill the air.

A Creature, wearing a poorly stitched costume, comes out from stage left; the costume reminds Kazdan of a golden octopus with Sauron’s Eye dressed as a nobleman. The Creature waves its fake tentacles and causes the hero to spin like he’s in a tilt-a-whirl.

The octopus-Creature exits back stage left as the hero turns around to drag himself back to the farm. The stone hut and the family re-appears like a bad flashback. The hero lurches towards them, while the family’s smiles turn into worried expressions.

The hero strangles the elderly couple and the children scream bloody murder; the elderly couple falls, and the children run off stage with the hero chasing them. There’s more screaming and then two loud snaps. Then, the stage goes pitch-black.

“It’s over now.” Illazar gives a small clap and Kazdan mimics him. But none of the stage players return for an encore.

“So was there supposed moral at the end of the play?” _Like not trust octopus Sauron?_

“Kind of; this is based on an old fairy tale about some mind-controlling Creature from the mythic fifth Tribe. The moral is to not trust anyone from the fifth Tribe.” _The fifth Tribe is mind-controlling rejects from the Black Lagoon? And since Illazar didn’t name them, I have a feeling I’m not going to get that out of him._

“Are all day plays this short?”

“Have been since Melinoë’s death.”

“What did she look like?” Illazar looks at the baby, and the baby looks at him curiously.

“Kind of like the babe, except weaker.” He mutters and gets up to leave. “My break is over; I have to go before Lord Chaor has my hide.”

“I understand, and thank you.” Illazar offers a polite nod and then goes. Kazdan looks down at the baby.

“You want to watch another?” The baby smiles, and he takes that as affirmation. They spend the rest day at the theater.     

*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Comments- 
> 
> Since the show didn’t really get into the flora of the UnderWorld, probably because it was mostly a volcanic, medieval, wasteland, so I decided to make up some flora. I know the cards had some flowers, but I think those were for the Mipedian and OverWorld territory. Also, the flower with tongues was actually lifted from the flowers that Najarin was watering in season three’s “Yesterday’s Heroes” episode. Considering how Kiru went to the UnderWorld to free the imprisoned OverWorlders and become the UnderWorld’s new Supreme Ruler, I bet he actually imported some plants from the OverWorld to try to cultivate some kind of farmland there. It didn’t really work, but a few flowers were able to adapt there over time. Like the white albus, which is based on the asphodel. 
> 
> Also, I get into some sexuality in this chapter because the show since it was marketed for children couldn’t get into issues on sexuality. Obviously, reproduction exists for Creatures or else how else would they be born? Yes, Mommark was able to create some, but I view that as akin to something like cloning in the Star Wars universe. I don’t think Creatures are rigid when it comes to gender roles because we see plenty of kickass females, though most’ve them seem to be from the UnderWorld, but I don’t know about sexuality. I’d like to believe Creatures are only concerned with sexuality when it comes to arranged marriages, producing an heir, or, possibly, for a religious reason. 
> 
> Also, the sets lack of artistic skill in the set is a reference to season two’s “Chaor’s Commandos” episodes. I don’t think sketching or painting is a revered art form in the UnderWorld, but there is great-looking art through sculptures and stained glass. Also, the players of the play are just background Creatures in the UnderWorld Coliseum during season three’s “Perithon!” episode. Along with some of the florists being background Creatures from that same episode.
> 
> One mystery is solved: the Ogress’s name is Darius, which is a reference to the Daniads, also known as Daughters of Danaus, but I also made her name closely resemble Dardemus because they are related. But another one pops in its place: who was Melinoë? 
> 
> Anyways, planned next chapter is another trip to the OverWorld and we’re creeping ever closer to the start of season one!


	9. Worship Differs Between Worlds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kazdan learns about religion in Kiru City.

Falias, Finias Chapter Eight

********

Suggested Theme:

Main Theme- Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen

 ********

            For his second trip to the OverWorld, Kazdan chose one of his dad’s classier outfits. This outfit consists of a black dress coat and black vest over a white button-down shirt with black slacks and scuffed dress shoes. He adjusts his white tie as he walks by the girl with red eyes and a brown ponytail.

Her maroon lips smirk as he walks by.

 _The best way to start my day!_ He smiles with rosy cheeks. He goes downstairs and takes a seat in a table shadowed by the upstairs balcony.

He raises his hand to get the attention of a bot.

“Shouldn’t you be figuring out how to get water to your home planet?” _How do I keep getting him? Does he wait for me?_

“I would if my friends hadn’t trapped me in this man suit.” The bot offers a huff in lieu of an eye roll. “I have more questions for you to answer.”

“I suspect as much, but do be quick. The PortCourt will be full of newbies soon.”

“Am I allowed to bring a CD player to Perim with CDs?”

“No.”

“I can’t even rent one?” The bot nods. “But I’ve seen players rent tents, backpacks, and jackets here. Why is a CD player prohibited?”

“It would interfere with Perim’s culture.” Kazdan stares incredulously at him. “If you want Creatures to listen to your music, then use the Scanner and make sure your headphones aren’t plugged in.”

“……Okay.” He pauses to recall more questions. “What is a solon? At what rate do Creatures age? And can Creatures be immortal?”

“A solon is approximately two human years. The rate of aging differs between Tribes. And immortality is defined as the ability to live forever, and my records have indicated that forever has yet to arrive.”

“What do you mean aging differs between Tribes?”

“Some Tribes have environments that inspire rapid aging because maturity contributes to survival. And considering the diversity of environments in particular Tribes, aging differs even between Tribesmates.”

“So would you say that UnderWorlders age faster than OverWorlders?”

“Not all UnderWorlders age faster than OverWorlders; some have enough discipline and wisdom to control their aging.” Kazdan opens his mouth. “I’m not saying that those Creatures are immortals, but they seem to have longer lives than their average Tribesmates.”

“Like Ch—” His question is cut off by a girlish scream, which causes the bot to sigh.

“Duty calls.”

“Thank you for answering my questions.”

“You’re welcome, KidChaor.”

The bot whirls away, and Kazdan decides to port to the OverWorld.

*

The OverWorld is not as kind to him as it was the last time. The sun in the plaza is bearing down on his full suit like an ant at the mercy of a magnifying glass.

 _Not as many players out here today._ He notices only three players walking around the plaza, most wiping their foreheads with the back of their hands or fanning themselves with their Scanners. None of the players were the blonde with green eyes.

His lips curl up.

He quickly moves through the plaza to get to the bar where he last saw Accato. He has to deliver bad news to the budding rock star, but he hopes that he can get a scan beforehand.

 _Maybe I can just ask Accato for a scan since he was so chummy with me the last time. Or I could lie to him and say that my Scanner can make music for him if he gave me his scan. But I bet Accato has been trained by Maxxor to spot a liar. Or would they just be called UnderWorlders here?_ He thinks as he makes his way to the bar with the blue juniper sign.

He walks into the bar.

The bartender is there with his back to him, arranging cleaned glasses onto shelves. He looks around and sees no sign of Maxxor’s cousin anywhere.

“E-Excuse me, where’s Accato?”

“Accato is at the Sacred Temple, human.” The bartender replies without turning around; he’s far too busy arranging his glasses into horizontal rows.

“And where is that?”

“Go all the way down the alley, then take a left and keep going straight until it ends, and then take another left.” Kazdan waits a minute for him to say more, but he only hears glasses clink together as the bartender arranges them on the shelf.  

 _Will I ever be on friendly terms with this guy? Probably not._ He leaves to find Accato and the Sacred Temple.

*

His cheeks and nose are red and burning like he’d been hit by a Flame Orb. Two hours, he walked without any trees to shield his sun-attracting suit to reach the Sacred Temple as per the bartender’s instructions.

 _Next time, I’m renting two canteens filled with cold water and a sun hat!_ He swears as he pants under the shadow of a Grecian column.

The Sacred Temple is composed of seven columns with flowery vines twisting around the columns like snakes. The flowers on the vine remind him of red roses with dandelion puffs blooming in the heart of them.  

 _I see the columns and the stone steps, but where is the building?_ He wonders as he walks up the steps. When he reaches the top, he is greeted by a set of stairs going down into a pitch-black hole.

 _Okay, are all OverWorlder temples underground? That seems more like a Danian thing._ He eyes the hole, looking for some kind of movement from a monster in the darkness.

After five minutes, he takes a step down.

And then another.

And another.

Another.

The darkness never relents.

It clings to his eyes like a sunburn.

He clings to the railing, heart racing for every moan the wooden railing utters. He does not know how much time has passed, but his dress shoes, eventually, touch solid ground. His fingers let go of the railing with a groan.

 _I am still in utter darkness, but I can use my Scanner for a light now since I don’t need both hands on the railing._ He sticks his hand into his pocket and pulls out his Scanner; he feels his way to the touch pad and the Scanner brightens. He toggles until he finds the flashlight function and watches as the Chaotic logo in the back turns into a floodlight.

 _Now, I see dirt. Ordinary, brown dirt._ He walks with his eyes on the light. Eventually, he reaches a door on the floor with a painted symbol of the flowers on the columns. The door has a golden hoop that he immediately pulls open.

Bright, natural light floods from the door, causing him to cry out and fumbles his Scanner.

“When you open a door, you’re supposed to go through it.” A feminine voice teases from beyond the door. Once his eyes adjust, he approaches the door and looks down to see a wooden ladder with a Creature holding it. The Creature is a goat humanoid with black fur and ivory horns in the shape of a screw; he is also wearing a white toga with a laurel crown.  

“…….Okay.” _Considering how Creatures can speak English, I wonder if their Ancient Tongue is derived from Latin._ He holds his tongue from asking, not wanting to try this supposedly kind Creature’s patience. He climbs down the ladder and finds out that the Creature is only a couple inches taller than him.

“Thank you, uh….” He waits for the Creature to give him his name. But the Creature only looks him over with his yellow eyes.

“Your hair is exact color of Lady Etheno’s scales. You even have her golden streaks!” The Creature reaches with his blacken cloven-hoof-hand to touch a yellow highlight, but Kazdan jumps back and winces when he feels the ladder’s rung dig into his back.

“Oh, I’m sorry!” The Creature sheepishly apologizes to him. “It’s just…you’re the first human I’ve ever seen down here.” _And I must be the first human you ever interacted with!_ He bites down on his tongue from retorting.

“…….Okay.” _I’ve been saying “okay” a lot. I don’t do that on Earth._

“Ah, I have forgotten my manners!” The Creature slightly bows before him like a servant before an honored guest. “I’m Novice Jeschi, and you are?”

“Kazdan Kalinkas.”

“Kazdan is your forename? Not a title?” Kazdan nods. “I would call you ‘Mister Kalinkas,’ but I don’t know if that’s appropriate for your kind.”

“It would be for my father. Just call me Kazdan, Novice Jeschi.” The Novice laughs.

“Novice suffices for our current acquaintanceship.” His small lips titter into a heart. “Jeschi only when communing with the Cothica.”

“The Cothica? I thought it was lost.”

“It is, but that does not mean It cannot hear all.” The Novice waves his hooves in the air like he’s conjuring stars.

“……..I see. Is Accato here?”

“Oh, yes, he’s been here since this morning with Lady Etheno.” The heart splits into a toothy leer.

“Can I see him?”

“If Lady Etheno wishes so.” The Novice walks away from him. “Follow me, Kazdan.”

As Kazdan follows the Novice, he takes as much mental notes about the environment. The walls, ceiling, and parts of the floor are embedded with white, tear-shaped rocks. The white tears are brimming with light so bright that it causes him to focus on the Novice’s back. The Novice must have felt his intense stare because he cranes his head back. Brown circles meet with gold bars.

“The gems that you see all around us were a gift from High Muge Najarin to the temple over 100 solons ago.”  The Novice narrates like a tour guide. “He said that he found the gems at the bottom of Lake Ken-I-Po.”

 _100 solons would be about 200, so Najarin must be over 200 years old. But what if he’s older than that?_ He then opens his mouth for a question.

“So how did he—” The Novice stops before a green door with the red flower painted on it.

“I’ll be back in a moment.” The Novice slips in before Kazdan can say anything else. For a few minutes, he’s left to his own devices. He looks around for something that isn’t trying to burn his eyes. He sees a blur of colorful doors yards away from where he is. Some are blue, others are purple, and one is as white as the light of the gems.

“Lady Etheno will see you now.” He jumps back when he hears the Novice speaks.

“I…..thanks.” He mutters with red cheeks and slips inside before he becomes more like a fool.  

*

His face turns as red as his hair.

“Do your kind not have bedrooms?” Her bedroom is easily thrice the size of his, but twice as cluttered by shelves of leather-bound tomes. She has a canopy bed with lavender curtains hiding it from further perusal by him, but he swears that he hears someone snoring in there. He walks carefully, not wanting to scuff the nighttime-colored floor, past the bed and to her line of sight.

“Not as grand as these, my Lady.” He swallows roughly. Lady Etheno is lounging on a purple chaise, wearing a purple peplos, a loose dress held back by golden medallions. She has bronze scales and gray eyes like a snake. Her hair are scaly tentacles that writhe like a nest of snakes atop her round head. Two of the tentacles close to the sides of her temples have golden scales.

“Your attire suggests otherwise since it looks _richer_ than most of the humans I see in the plaza.” _The way she says “humans” isn’t with annoyance like most Creatures; it’s clinical like a doctor studying a patient. Or a snake observing a rat._

“The clothes are…heirlooms from my father.”

“And you got your gold from him?” Her eyes flick to his highlights.

“Mostly.”

“What brings you to the temple? Surely not for communion with the Cothica. You look far too young for that.” His thick eyebrows furrow, while his mouth frowns.

“What exactly is communion with the Cothica?”

“It is a sacred act requiring at least two willing participants, but one must be a Volupica.” She pauses and smiles. “Do you know what a Volupica is?”

“No.”

“A Volupica acts as a vessel for communion with the Cothica, and the best way to commune with the Cothica is through sex.”

He gapes like a ruby red mackerel.

“I’m not a prostitute. Prostitution is illegal in the OverWorld.”

“T-Then how can you afford this room!?”

“I receive a stipend, like everyone else in the holy works of the Cothica, derived from the small fee that those needing communion pay.”

 _BUT THAT’S THE DEFINITION OF PROSTITUTION!_ He bites down hard enough on his tongue to taste metallic blood.

“……..The Novice told me that Accato was here.” His eyes drift towards the curtained-off bed and then back to Lady Etheno.

She nods.

“W-Well, I….better go. Please, tell him I’ll be at the bar next week.”

“You are very quick to leave. I presume that humans do not have anything like Volupicas.”

 _Historically, there have been cults that had sex as part of the worships to the Greco-Roman Pantheon. The cult of Dionysus was devoted to sexual pursuits, and snakes in the sect that Alexander the Great’s mother was part of._ He reminds himself and feels the redness dissipate from his face.

“We did back in ancient times. Now, it’s wholly up to individuals in how they want to worship.” _For those that actually believe in a higher power and aren’t dissuaded by people using religion as a tool to commit atrocities._

“You are summarizing. I would love to hear the full history.”

“It’s a very long history.”

“Volupicas, too, have a long history. Perhaps, we can share some other time.”

“Perhaps.” He runs a hand through his hair, not sure what else to say.   

“You may go.” She dismisses him with a wave of her hand, and she opens her book up to read. He nods and slips outside. He half expects the Novice to be there like bad gossip.

But there’s no one there.

*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Comments- Here is the link: 
> 
> The outfit that Thomas Jerome Newton aka David Bowie’s character in The Man Who Fell to Earth at 2 minutes and 43 seconds is the outfit that Kazdan is wearing in this chapter. Considering the musical references in the show such as MajorTom aka Tom Majors, LU2 aka Lulu + U2, and Klay bearing some resemblance to Bano, I theorize that Kaz or at least his hair color came from Bowie’s Newton since he has red hair with gold streaks in the movie. Perhaps, the creators were fans of David Bowie or that particular movie: [Link](https://youtu.be/qPNa9KD4Y_k?t=2m43s)
> 
> With Kiru City, I always got this Classical Greco-Roman mixed with some “modern” Greek architecture in the design. While the UnderWorld City got the medieval with a tiny splash of Ancient East thrown into their architecture. Considering how the Dark Ages, aka the “fall” of the Roman Empire, were mainly know for the medieval designs, it’s fitting how Kiru City would be designed in contrast to that. Or, perhaps, foreshadowing!
> 
> The flowers on the Sacred Temple’s vines are inspired by myrtles and roses since both are the symbols for Venus/Aphrodite. Volupica actually comes from the Latin word volupia which means willingness and that in turn came from an alleged Roman Goddess known as Volupia. However, I was also inspired by Voluptas or Volupta who was the Roman equivalent to Hedone, aka the daughter of Psyche and Cupid/Eros, and she was the Goddess of Sensual Pleasures.
> 
> Next chapter, I plan a little action in the UnderWorld because Kazdan’s time there cannot be all fine arts and eateries, especially in UnderWorld City. 
> 
> By the way anyone who was a fan of “Forces,” I’m not going to continue it because I would rather focus on this since I’m actually thinking about all the changes of a universe where Tom and Kaz aren’t friends. I’m not going to delete it like my original version of “Forces,” but I just won’t write anymore for it. And if any of you are going to request to continue the story for me, my answer is no because I think someone else should make their own original work. Personally, I think if “Chaotic Crisis” actually happened then the Earth would nuke itself and wipe out all life there because I doubt Creatures are radiation-proof and I have a fairly dim view on human governments at the moment.

**Author's Note:**

> Author’s Comments- Originally, I wanted to create a multi-chapter sequel to Lost His Mind which would replace Wayward Power; eventually, I am going to create that sequel. However, I wanted to create Falias, Finias as the replacement for Wayward Power and because this questions has been floating through my head: what would Kaz be without Tom? I know Elememtal1000 tackled this in Evil Kaz where Kaz and Tom are enemies like in the original Grolls and Gorks story of the card game.
> 
> However, I’ve been thinking how Kaz of the show would take it; I noticed in some of the episodes without the support of his friends he would become sort of sad or subdued. In season two’s “A Rare Hazard”, where Tom and Kaz are secretly working with the CodeMasters to catch these players destroying Locations by having Kaz accuse Tom of cheating who then flees to Perim, Kaz was sad without Tom. I know it was an act, but he is not the best of actors. Even Tom, the OverWorld goody-goody, can deceive better than him as shown in season one’s “Maze of Menace” and “Going Under” episodes and in season two’s “Putting the Muge in Mugic” episode. I would like to believe that Kaz had to really think and feel what it would be like to not be friends with Tom anymore in order to go through with his act. 
> 
> So, I deeply thought about all the possibilities, the changes that would occur if Tom and Kaz weren’t best friends but not enemies; it’s more like a friendship that got away for the both of them. However, Kaz is the one who suffers the most from it, since I do love writing his suffering, while Tom is pretty much the same person in the show with some minor changes. In this alternative universe, Kaz is more subdued and sad to the point where he appears depressed in comparison to the actual Kaz of the show. And in his loneliness, he grows into an entirely different person.


End file.
